Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?
by T.H. Tiger
Summary: What if during the first trip to Jusenkyo, Ranma was locked in his cursed form? Since the agreement between the Tendo's could no longer be fullfilled, Genma remembers another promise he made years ago to one Noboyuki Masaki to engage any daughter he had t
1. Default Chapter Title

Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?  
Chapter 1: Beginnings.  
  
Genma Saotome looked at the faded and tattered postcard in his  
hand.  
  
Coming soon.  
Bringing Ranma.  
  
A tear slid down his cheek. He had written it the day before he  
and Ranma had arrived at Jusenkyo. That had been meant to be the last  
stop on their training trip, after that Genma had planned to take them  
back to Japan, and to the fiancee that was waiting there for Ranma.  
The fiancee that Ranma now would never know about.  
  
He'd had such plans. Ranma would marry one of Soun's daughters,  
and Genma would retire to his well earned rest. All gone now, all his  
plans dust, because his son had lost his temper and forgotten the true  
way of the martial artist.  
  
His mind drifted back to that day when all his hopes and dreams  
had come crashing down. It had been foggy, he remembered that well,  
so foggy that he had almost walked into one of the Jusenkyo springs  
before he had seen it.  
  
FLASHBACK:  
We see the Jusenkyo valley, or rather we don't see it. The  
entire valley is shrouded in a dank fog that cuts visibility to a mere  
few feet. Three figures emerge from the fog. Genma, Ranma and the  
guide.  
"And this Sirs, is famous training ground of cursed springs, very  
tragic and famous place."  
"Not bad Pop, this place looks like it might actually be  
challenging, this fog is great."  
"O no sirs, fog is not part of training ground. Please, you come  
to hut now, have nice cup tea, wait for fog clear, then I show you O  
so tragic springs, yes?"  
"Are you kidding? The fog's the only thing that makes this a  
challenge." Ranma slipped the backpack he was wearing off, and  
lightly leaped up to one of the barely visible bamboo poles.  
Genma looked uncertain, he could barely see the poles. "I don't  
know boy, maybe we should take the guides advice. A nice hot cup of  
tea would go nice about now."  
"Sure pop, you go right ahead, go rest your creaky old bones. It  
must be a bugger to get all old and slow. I'll just practice by  
myself." Ranma smirked down at Genma, who was rapidly turning red.  
"Old!? Slow!? You asked for it boy. Prepare yourself, I'm  
going to show you that these old bones can still kick your ass."  
Genma slipped out of his own pack and leaped up to the pole opposite  
Ranma." he felt a twinge of relief as the pole came into clear view as  
soon as he got close. He turned and leaped at Ranma the instant he  
touched down.  
The guide was frantic and yelled up at the barely visible martial  
artists. "O sirs, what you do? You not want to do that, better you  
come down now. Yes?"  
Ranma ignored the guide's frantic cries, and leaped to meet  
Genma. They exchanged a flurry of blows before Ranma snuck in a  
clever feint, followed by a kick, that sent Genma plunging into the  
mist. Ranma smirked as he heard the tremendous splash Genma made as  
he landed in the spring below his pole.  
The guide heard as well, and barely backed off in time to escape  
being splashed by the wave of water that washed over his former  
position. The first splash was followed by a second as Genma leaped  
back toward Ranma position.  
Ranma was peering into the fog, trying to spot his father.  
"What's the matter pop? Giving up already? Ahhh, what the hell is  
that?" The last was screamed out as a massive black and white creature  
came flying out of the fog straight toward him. Taken by surprise, he  
reacted slowly and was knocked from his pole and sent flying backwards  
out of sight by a powerful kick.  
Having revenged his dunking, and shown the boy once again who was  
boss, thoughts of hot tea crossed Genma's mind. He leaped lightly to  
the ground beside the Guide who stared at him in shock.  
Genma tried to say, About that tea, but all that came out was  
"Growf." Genma lifted a hand to his mouth in shock, but before it  
could reach its destination, he froze in shock, staring at the black,  
heavily clawed hand that had replaced his own meaty hand.  
"O too bad, Mr customer fall in spring of drowned Panda, very  
tragic tale of Panda that drown there two thousand year ago, very  
tragic tale. Now whoever fall in spring take on form of Panda.  
Genma could only look at the guide in shock. The guide was used  
to this reaction, and was about to lead Genma to his hut for a kettle  
of hot water, when an explosion of voices yelling in some strange  
dialect came through the fog.  
The Guide turned pale, and grabbing Genma by a paw, dragged the  
stunned and unresisting panda along behind himself as he made haste  
away. As he was dragged along Genma became aware of the voices behind  
them. He also could hear the sound of someone running towards them,  
the sound of hurrying footsteps was intermixed every few seconds by a  
splash, only to resume seconds later. The footsteps kept getting  
closer and closer, until finally a small naked red headed girl, her  
wet hair hanging practically to her knees, burst from the fog, and  
immediately launched a flying kick that caught the stupefied Genma  
under the chin and sent him sailing backwards into the fog, and  
unconsciousness.  
  
  
Genma sighed, Ranma in her eagerness to get back at him after  
getting out of the Nyanniichuan, had in her rage, and blinded by the  
fog, stumbled into a spring. When she had not changed any further  
then she already had, she had thrown caution to the wind, and made a  
bee line straight back towards where she thought Genma was, falling in  
a dozen or so springs as she did so. Somehow the contact with all  
that magic had frozen her in her cursed form.  
The guide had no idea as to how it had happened, the springs were  
not suppose to do that, they could not mix. At least not without the  
body having years to adapt to one curse. Genma could go back in ten  
years, and jump in the Nanniichuan, and might free himself of his  
curse, but only might, it was no guarantee.  
The guide had no idea if that would work on Ranma. He was very  
evasive when asked. Genma suspected he was one of those people who  
hated to admit they did not know the answer. He hated people like  
that, they should be forthright and honest, and admit their short  
comings.  
  
Genma turned his attention back to his open back pack. He had  
been looking for food when he had found the tattered postcard in the  
bottom. It had been crushed up against a bundle of waxed paper jammed  
in the bottom of his back. Now Genma's eyes were draw back to that  
packet, and with a hand that visible trembled he reached in and picked  
it out.  
Unwrapping the outer layers he carefully unfolded the contents.  
Various documents and letters, and most importantly, a document with  
his signature, and Ranma's baby hand print. A copy of the agreement  
with his wife to turn Ranma into a man among men, or commit Sepuku.  
Genma winced, there would be no going home for him, not ever. With a  
sigh he started to fold the documents back up. He was interrupted in  
his task when a small scrap of paper separated from the main bundle  
and fell to the ground.  
  
Curious, Genma bent down and picked it up. looking at it he saw  
that it was a napkin from a bar he, Soun and several of their friends  
had frequented back in the old days. What was it doing here among his  
papers?  
Turning it over he read the writing on the other side. His eyes  
widened in shock at the words there, and memory flooded back.  
  
It had been the night he and Soun had agreed to merge there  
families. Nodoka was expecting any day, and Kimiko would be due not  
long after. Then an old friend who was seated with them brought up  
the question.  
"What if they both have girls?" He had said, after all, Soun  
already had two, and the odds were fifty, fifty that Genma would have  
one. So how would they merge their families then.  
For a while the party turned depressed, but fueled by alcohol,  
Genma came up with a solution. "You have a son. We'll marry our  
children to him if we both have daughters." he said  
Soun had objected, "We can't both marry are daughters to him.  
Not legal I don't think." Soun was a little drunk by then, as  
compared to the other two, who were very drunk.  
It had been decided to flip a coin to decide who's daughter would  
get married. Genma had won, and they had created an agreement on the  
spot. Genma and his friend had written in the gist of the arrangement  
on a napkin, and Soun had signed as a witness. Then they had preceded  
to get even drunker in celebration, and forgotten all about it. Till  
now.  
  
Genma looked at the stained ripped document that was now worth  
more than anything else he possessed. Because it meant a happy  
retirement for him in his old age. He hugged the precious document to  
his chest, and tears ran down his face and dripped off his chin.  
Controlling his overflowing emotions, Genma turned and yelled at  
the red headed girl soaking in the hot spring. "Ranma, come on hurry  
up. We have an old friend to visit."  
"You mean Mr. Tendo? About time, you said we were going to see  
him months ago."  
"Not Tendo, no. This is another friend. You'll like him, he has  
a son a little older then you. I think you'll get along splendidly  
with him. And if he's anything like his Father, Tenchi Masaki will be  
very glad to see you.  
  
Two days later:  
  
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR [Expletive deleted] MIND!!!!" Ranma screamed  
at her father in disbelief. No freaking way am I marrying some guy.  
You can forget that idea right now. I'm going back to china, there  
has to be something we missed, and Shampoo must have gotten tired of  
chasing us by now, I mean its been three months, how long does it take  
someone to forget a grudge."  
"Girl, you're not going anywhere, you have a duty to your family,  
as the last Saotome of our family it is up to you to see that our  
proud line continues."  
"Proud line, yea right, were so proud we'll marry our sons off to  
other guys just to fill our fat stomach. Well if you're so determined  
to carry on the line, the zoo just got a female Panda in. I'm sure  
they'd be happy to marry the pair of you. As for me, I'm leaving, and  
you'd better not try and stop me old man." Ranma turned her back on  
Genma and walked away, her hair fairly bristling with outrage, how  
dare he, how dare he, how dare he. She was a guy, damit. How dare he  
even suggest such a thing, the, the, the, PEVERT!!!  
  
Genma watched as Ranma turned a corner and disappeared from his  
sight. His gaze shifted to the pack laying in the middle of the road  
where it had fallen after Ranma had flung it at him when he had  
broached the idea of marriage. Ranma would be back, if only for her  
supplies. Genma had better be ready when she did so. He looked  
around, and spied a heavy roadside hedge, a field on the other side  
would make a good campsite, and would give Genma some privacy for what  
he needed to do.  
  
Ranma cautiously peaked around the corner, ready to snatch her  
head back if Genma was out in the open looking in her direction. She  
felt a proper fool, stalking off like that and forgetting all her  
supplies. She'd never hear the end of it. She would just sneak into  
camp, snag the back pack when pop fell asleep, and get the hell out of  
here. If she gave pop a week or so she was sure he would forget this  
whole crazy idea, but until then she needed the supplies in that pack.  
Not seeing anyone, Ranma came fully around the corner and  
carefully made her way to the hedge behind which she could see a small  
stream of smoke coming from the fire Genma would have made to heat his  
evening meal. So far so good, she thought. Creeping silently along  
she made it to the hedge, and brushing a few branches out of the way  
peered through it at the campsite Genma had set up.  
The sight she saw brought her crashing through the hedge and into  
the clearing on the other side.  
"Are you crazy?!? What the heck are you doing pop?!?"  
  
Genma looked up from where he knelt in front of a clean white  
cloth. A ceremonial knife griped in his hand. "I am restoring our  
family honor in the only way I can, because of my mistake, are clan  
will be no more. I must atone for my error." Pressing the tip of the  
knife against his bare stomach, her gritted his teeth and pressed, the  
blade sank an inch or two into his hard muscled belly and he hastily  
placed a hand bearing a clean cloth against the wound to prevent the  
blood that welled out from fouling his pants.  
"No!!" Ranma screamed. Diving forward she grasped Genma's hand  
and tried to pull the knife free. Genma resisted and the knife sank  
another inch or so into his belly, drawing a pained gasp from the  
stocky martial artist. Horrified, Ranma snatched her hands free of  
Genma's before she caused him to finish the stroke that would end his  
life.  
"Please, don't do this." She begged. "You don't have to do  
this."  
"I must, I have no choice, there is no other option, you made me  
see that, it is the only way." Genma said. Gritting his teeth, he  
prepared to make the final thrust that would end his life and restore  
his honor.  
"I'll marry him!!" Ranma cried out. "If it means that much to  
you, I'll marry him." She repeated in a faint whisper. "Only please,  
don't do this pop."  
"Do you promise? Will you restore your clan's prospects?"  
"Hai," Ranma said, eyes lowered. "If it's that important to you,  
I'll keep your end of the bargain with Mr. Masaki."  
  
Genma agreed to forgo his suicide, but he refused to go to a  
doctor. He pulled the knife free of the wound it had made, and  
without removing the white cloth he had used to staunch the flow of  
blood, bound it in place.  
"A true martial artist must be able to ignore little scratches  
like this Ranma. Why I've done worse shaving." Genma laughed and  
then bit back a curse as he clutched his stomach in pain. He waved  
Ranma off when she would have come to his aid. "I'm fine, you just  
carry both our packs for the next few days and I'll be right as rain."  
  
Genma looked up the road to where Ranma labored under the twin  
burdens of both her's and Genma's packs. Making sure Ranma was not  
looking Genma surreptitiously tossed the prop knife he had used to  
fool her into a nearby ditch. It had been well worth the thousand and  
fifty yen he had paid for it. The fake blood in the rubber handle,  
the retractable blade, all had worked perfectly. Thanks to it, he had  
passed the biggest obstacle to his happy retirement.  
  
Ranma gritted her teeth. Stupid old man, why'd he have to do  
such a stupid thing? Was he crazy? Well Ranma may have promised to  
follow through on pop's promise, but she was only one side of the  
bargain. This Tenchi guy still had to agree to marry her, and by the  
time Ranma was through displaying her feminine charms, she would be  
the last girl on earth he would ever want to share a room with, little  
lone marry. Yep, she gave it a week at the most, then she'd be free  
to start looking for a cure.  
  
  
Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?  
Chapter 2: Meetings  
  
Nobuyuki Masaki was performing his usual evening juggling act.  
He was currently in the process of manipulating, one briefcase, three  
plan tubes, filled with architectural drawing that had to be checked  
by morning, one bag of take out, a set of house keys, one weeks worth  
of mail, and finally, an open umbrella. His act had an unusually high  
difficulty rating this evening, as there was a good stiff breeze  
blowing that threatening to rip the umbrella from his hand, and leave  
him open to the deluge of rain that was currently pouring down.  
  
An avid audience of birds watched from the shelter of a near by  
tree. Would he make it, or like last night, would he drop the take  
out, spilling rice all over the front stoop. It was going to be  
close. He had managed to tuck both the brief case and the plan tubes  
under one arm, and was holding the bag of food and his umbrella in the  
other hand. Carefully, maintaining his grip on every thing, he slid a  
hand in his pocket and started to go for his keys. The birds leaned  
forward, and then let out a piping cheer as the inevitable happened.  
  
Damn, Nobuyuki cursed in a muffled voice, as a sudden strong gust  
of wind wrenched his umbrella free of his hand. Then he cursed again,  
as his desperate attempt to regain his umbrella, resulted in him  
dropping his food, to the cheers of the audience, closely followed by  
his briefcase and the architectural drawings. The only thing he  
managed to retain, was the mail, and that only because it was gripped  
between his teeth. Pulling his house keys from his pocket, he stooped  
down to see what he could salvage.  
"Here mister, let me give you a hand with that." A cheerful,  
bubbly feminine voice said. Simultaneous with the voice, the rain,  
which had been pelting down on Nobuyuki's body since the loss of his  
umbrella, stopped.  
Nobuyuki's ears pricked at what sounded like a pretty girl.  
Looking up, he found himself eye to chest with a most attractive young  
lady. Indeed, as he had guessed, she was very pretty, and very  
healthy as well. He stared in bliss for a second, before lifting his  
eyes upwards to look at the face of his benefactor. He was pleased to  
see that the face of the small red head was every bit as attractive as  
the rest of her. She was smiling as she held an umbrella out over  
him.  
Nobuyuki smiled back, and then realized that one of the reason  
her state of health was so apparent, was that she was not sheltered  
under the umbrella she was currently holding, but instead was being  
soaked by the rain as she shielded him from the downpour. This caused  
her clothing to cling to her very curvy body, and reduced their  
concealment factor by a substantial degree.  
"Thank you my dear," he enthused as he stood up. "But this will  
never do. You'll catch your death if you don't cover up. Please,  
come inside, and we'll get you out of those wet clothes." He grinned  
widely at the little red head, who returned his smile, just before  
vanishing.  
  
She had not really vanished, she had merely dropped so quickly,  
it had appeared that way.  
  
"Wha" was all Nobuyuki had the time to say, before the space  
formally occupied by the young girl's head was filled with a massive  
black and white paw, armed with a most impressive set of claws. The  
paw swished through the air with an audible ripping sound, as the air  
protested being displaced so abruptly.  
Nobuyuki followed the path of the paw through the air with his  
eyes, and then wrenching them back around, he stared up in horror at  
the owner of said paw, and yet further up. His eyes traced their way  
over a massive fury body, up to a head as large as a keg, and armed  
with a massive set of fangs. Strangely, there was a pair of  
eyeglasses hanging off of one round furry ear.  
"O please, mister, save me from that monster." the girl said from  
behind him, her voice faint with fear. He felt her hands on his back,  
forcing him to stay between her and the beast, that even now was  
growling in anger at being denied its prey.  
Nobuyuki did the only thing he could under the circumstances.  
  
Ranma felt the body of the man in front of her go limp and  
watched as he bonelessly slid to the ground, leaving nothing between  
her and an enraged panda but thin air.  
Ranma jumped back out of the way as her father once again lashed  
out at her. "Hey pop, your friend is a bit of a wimp ain't he? I  
mean, imagine fainting at the sight of you. Your so fat and slow a  
little kid could keep away from you."  
As Ranma mocked her father, she kept moving, dancing and leaping  
around her father's best efforts to chastise her. "I don't know what  
your so upset about Pop. I mean you wanted me to make a good first  
impression, didn't you? It ain't my fault you only bought one  
umbrella. If you'd gotten one for me, I wouldn't have had to take  
yours."  
  
Genma made no reply. Not even a growf. He was thoroughly winded  
from trying to catch Ranma before she got to the Masakis', and had no  
breath to spare..  
He had made the mistake of telling her the address while they  
were still some distance away, and she had taken off like a shot.  
Genma was under no delusions as to her reason. She might have  
promised to cooperate and marry Tenchi, but Genma knew she was not  
going to do so without a fight. If he let her get to the Masakis'  
ahead of him, there was no telling what she might do to dissuade them  
from accepting her as a potential bride. Faced with this, Genma had  
no choice in the matter but to make the best speed possible after  
Ranma.  
He had barely managed to keep pace with her, and the instant they  
had reached the Masakis' and seen Nobuyuki standing in front of his  
house, she had stolen his umbrella, leaving him exposed to the falling  
rain.  
  
Ranma watched her father's labored breathing with some  
satisfaction. Much as she had initially disliked and hated her new  
body, she had gradually become aware of how much faster she could move  
in it. Faced with the possibility that she might be a girl for the  
rest of her life, she had focused all her efforts on increasing that  
speed, drowning her fear in an orgy of training. The results exceeded  
her wildest dreams. She was so much faster then three months ago,  
there was no real comparison. She knew if she were to face off  
against her male body, she could clean it's clock. Whoever the girl  
was who had drowned in the spring, she must have been chained  
lightning in a fight.  
Ranma easily dogged a half hearted swipe from Genma, and decided  
she'd had enough fun for the night. The rain was icy, and unlike her  
father, she did not have a thick coat of water repellant fur. Of  
course, if her father did not give up this crazy idea, she might  
acquire one in the not too distant future. The point was however,  
that she was chilled to the bone, and was wanting a good hot bath.  
"Come on Pop, give it up. Let's get your friend inside before he  
drowns." Ranma said, gesturing towards the unconscious Nobuyuki, who  
was laying face up on the front stoop, rain water filling his open  
mouth. A steady stream of bubbles rose to the top of the little pool  
of water, making Nobuyuki look like some particularly ugly fountain.  
Glad for an excuse to stop, Genma merely grunted. He waddled  
over and picked up Nobuyuki and slung him over his furry shoulder.  
Ranma gathered up the various objects Nobuyuki had dropped, and  
followed her father inside.  
  
Once inside, Genma wasted no time in finding himself some hot  
water, and Ranma went off on her own in search of the bath.  
  
Nobuyuki woke to find himself laying on his living room rug.  
Blinking his eyes, he wondered if he had dreamed the whole sequence of  
events. Then the sound of someone eating drew his attention. Turning  
his head, he spied a large man in a white training Gi stuffing his  
face from a cardboard take out box he held inches away from his mouth.  
The man's chopsticks were a blur and the sound of his chewing filled  
the room. The sight sparked a memory in Nobuyuki's mind, and an image  
from years ago rose up.  
  
Scene: The school yard of a junior public school. A figure  
recognizable as chibi-Genma is using his foot, pressing it against the  
face of a crying chibi-Nobuyuki, to hold off the other boy as he  
scarfs down his lunch.  
  
"Genma?" Nobuyuki said, a questioning tone, half disbelief, half  
dread, in his voice.  
Genma took a few seconds to finish the box of take out he was  
eating, then after setting it down, he jumped across the room and drew  
Nobuyuki into a bear hug.  
"Nobuyuki, you old dog!" Genma shouted as he hugged the astounded  
man. "I haven't seen you in years. Not since my daughter was born.  
Bet you thought I'd forgotten about our arraignment didn't you? Well,  
no fear, Genma Saotome's word is his bond. I promised my daughter  
would marry your son, and here we are, ready to fulfill my promise."  
  
Nobuyuki was in a state of shock, the appearance of his long ago  
acquaintance in the middle of his living room, after his encounter  
with that monster outside, had left him a little slow on the uptake.  
One concept did manage to filter through the flood of words Genma was  
directing at him.  
"Marriage?  
"Tenchi and your daughter?  
"What deal? I don't remember a deal. Beside's you have a son.  
Nodoka wrote my wife and told her so."  
Genma's face took on a tragic look. "You don't remember the  
solemn promise we made to each other the night little Ranma was born.  
O to think my friend has sunk so low as to forget the meaning of  
honor. I wrote and told you we were coming. Don't tell me you never  
got the letter?" Genma said in an accusatory voice.  
"Well . . . no!" Nobuyuki said, putting his hand behind his head  
and rubbing it. "I've been sort of busy. Don't check the mail much.  
Not that much time. Sleepy when I get home from work, you know how it  
is."  
He cast his eyes around the room until he spotted the pile of  
soggy mail that Ranma had dropped on the hallway table after carrying  
it inside. Getting to his feet Nobuyuki crossed to the mail and  
leafed through it until he found Genma letter. Opening it, he read  
the contents with astonishment. He looked closely at a photo copy of  
the original agreement between him and Genma. Finally he lowered the  
pages and looked at Genma with puzzlement, "This is my writing, no  
doubt, I'll take your word we made this deal, but Ranma's a boy, not a  
girl, I'm sure of it."  
Genma carefully schooled his features. This was the critical  
point. He had managed to get Ranma's promise to go through with this  
marriage, but he was under no delusions as to Ranma's real feelings.  
His former son would do everything she could to sabotage Genma's  
chances at a peaceful retirement.  
He had been giving the situation much thought, and had come up  
with a way to at least spike some of Ranma's plans.  
  
Looking at Nobuyuki he let his face fall into an expression of  
great sadness. "I'm sorry to tell you this Nobuyiki-san, but your  
cousin has fallen ill. Nodoka was convinced she was going to have a  
son. I thought nothing of it at the time, I merely thought it the  
natural thing for an expectant mother to imagine their coming child to  
be one or the other. I did not recognize Nodoka's obsession for what  
it was. When Ranma was born, I was shocked that despite the obvious  
fact she was a girl, Nodoka insisted on giving her a boys name.  
That was only the first sign, and I shrugged it off, but over  
time I came to realize that Nodoka truly believed little Ranma was a  
boy. She referred to her always as a boy, all the letters she wrote  
to her friends said Ranma was a boy. Every time she talked to a  
friend, it was about her son.  
"She refused to treat Ranma as anything other then a boy. I  
tried to reason with her, but it was no good. I loved her deeply, and  
foolishly went along with her obsession, hopping that she would  
eventually come to her senses.  
"I did not realize how grave my error was, until I discovered  
that Ranma thought she was a boy as well. Not wanting my daughters  
life to be ruined, I put my foot down, and insisted that Nodoka treat  
Ranma as the girl she was." Here Genma grimaced, "That was a mistake,  
Nodoka almost took my head off with the family sword, and Ranma's  
reaction was not much better. Neither one of them would speak to me  
for weeks."  
Genma looked at Nobuyuki in desperation. "Please don't think  
Nodoka was completely mad, except for that one blind spot she was  
perfectly normal. Maybe if there had been other signs I would have  
acted sooner." Genma shook his head, and covered his eyes with a hand.  
"In the end, I did the only thing I could think of, I played into her  
madness. I accused her of coddling Ranma, of turning him into an  
unmasculine man. I told her that I was going to take him away and  
turn him into a man among men." Genma turned away from Nobuyuki, who  
was looking at him incredulously, to rummage through his backpack,  
which he had pulled near. Finding what he sought, he handed Nobuyuki  
his copy of the agreement he had signed with Nodoka.  
"As you can see, I agreed that if I did not turn Ranma into a man  
among men, I would commit Sepuku. I was willing to give up my life to  
give my daughter back her life, but Nodoka insisted on adding a clause  
that would include Ranma in the agreement. If I take Ranma back to  
her, and she does not judge her to be a man among men, Ranma must kill  
herself along side me.  
"Even with that I hoped to restore Ranma to her lost womanhood,  
if it meant we could never go home, then so be it.  
"Nodoka's influence proved too strong, however, and she continued  
to believe she was a boy. I hoped when she began to blossom, she  
would no longer be able to deny the truth. For a while I thought I'd  
guessed ritght. When Ranma started to change, she felt doubt for the  
first time. She still denied it, but I could see her belief  
wavering."  
Genma looked at Nobuyuki, tears streaming down his face. "I was  
so close old friend, another few months, and I truly believe Ranma  
would have at last admitted the truth." Genma sobbed out loud. "But  
it was not to be."  
Genma lowered his face into his hand and began to cry bitter  
tears. "So stupid. I was so Damn stupid!!" he cried into his hands.  
Nobuyuki had been listening to him with a mixture of shock, and a  
large dose of scepticism. This was not the first time he had been  
witness to a Genma Saotome production. He knew his cousin Nodoka, and  
this did not match that knowledge of her. Still it had been almost  
sixteen years since he had last seen his cousin. A lot could have  
changed. He would listen to Genma's story, but he would keep in mind  
other times he had fallen for one of Genma's tales.  
  
Lifting his tear stained eyes to Nobuyuki, Genma visibly brought  
himself under control. "I was so close Nobuyuki. I had been training  
Ranma, taking her to all the old training grounds, and teaching her  
many of the ancient and lost styles. You can not deny your body and  
become a good martial artist. I hoped that having to deal with her  
body in such a comprehensive way, she would come to accept it.  
"Then I heard of the Amazons of China, and my and Ranma's fate  
was sealed"  
"Amazons?" Nobuyuki asked, questioningly.  
"A small tribe in China, where the women are all fierce fighters,  
and the men little better then servants. I hoped that seeing them  
would make Ranma realize that she could be a woman and a warrior.  
Such hope I had. If it had not been for that cursed training ground,  
all might have been well."  
Overcome by his grief, unable to continue speaking, Genma fumbled  
with the dishes on the table top until he found a glass of water.  
Upending it over his head, he shifted form.  
  
Nobuyuki reared back in shock as his old friend suddenly turned  
into the massive beast that had threatened him on his own door stoop.  
Falling backwards, he raised his hands in a warding gesture. The  
beast made no move to attack however, instead it picked up a tea  
kettle and dumped a stream of warm water over it's head. Nobuyuki  
watched in awe as the beast became a man.  
"What? How? I don't understand," he babbled.  
"Jusenkyo," Genma said flatly. "The cursed training ground of  
Jusenkyo. We had to pass through it on the way to the Amazon village.  
"Whoever falls into one of those springs, becomes the creature  
that last drowned in that spring. I fell in the spring of drowned  
Panda, and you see what happens to me. Cold water changes me, hot  
water reverses the change.  
"Did . . . did Ranma . . .?"  
"Fall in a spring? No!! If only she had. That I could have  
dealt with. Instead, the springs provided her mind with a reason for  
her female body. Even though hot water did not effect her, she became  
convinced that she had fallen in the Nyanniichuan. That she had been  
a boy, and now was cursed to be a girl. Nothing I have been able to  
do has managed to convince her otherwise. That is when I remembered  
our agreement. If Ranma were to get married, eventually she would  
have to except the truth. Having a baby would leave her little  
choice.  
"But if she thinks she's a boy?"  
"I've taken care of that, she may be delusional, but she has a  
strong sense of honor. I've been able to convince her that she must  
marry for the honor of the clan. The only hold I have over her is the  
agreement that you and I made." Genma leaned in closer to Nobuyuki.  
"Please, I beg of you, don't forsake me. You are my last hope, I fear  
I might have to take drastic measures otherwise.  
Nobuyuki was torn, he did not really want to marry his son off to  
a crazy woman, but he had made the agreement, there was a certain  
amount of honor involved, and she was a very nice looking girl. His  
eyes glazed slightly as he recalled how she had looked with her wet  
shirt plastered to her torso.  
Tenchi had been a bit of a disappointment to Nobuyuki, he seemed  
to have little interest in girls. Maybe an arranged marriage to a  
beautiful girl would bring out his true Masaki nature. He sat up  
straight and faced Genma, a resolute expression flowing across his  
face. "I'll do it, for the sake of your daughter, I'll agree to the  
marriage.  
"My friend," Genma shouted lunging across the table and pulling  
Nobuyuki into a rib creaking hug. Nobuyuki returned it with fervor,  
Tenchi would be so happy that he had found him such a nice looking  
girl. And so what if she was a little crazy, his mother had believed  
some very strange things, and he had loved her anyway.  
Their self congratulations, were suddenly interrupted by a male  
voice coming from the direction of the bath.  
  
"Nani . . . No way!"  
"Tenchi?" Nobuyuki exclaimed in surprise, "He's not suppose to be  
back from his grandfathers till tomorrow. What's he doing home?"  
  
Tenchi Masaki had not slept for three days. Not since he had  
snuck into a certain cavern, and come face to face with the legendary  
demon that was sealed up inside it. So shattered had he been by that  
experience, that the instant his eyes closed, the image of the demon  
would rise up in front of him, and bring him screaming out of his  
sleep.  
His grandfather had noticed his lethargy, and tiredness, and had  
told him to go home. Not in anger, as Tenchi might have expected, but  
in concern. Sometimes he forgot how kind his grandfather could be.  
So often in recent years he had been the rigid taskmaster who set  
Tenchi to slaving every vacation. It was easy to forget that this  
stern man had held him in his arms and wept with him in their mutual  
grief. Tenchi for his mother, Yousho for his daughter.  
So he had arrived home a day early to an empty home. He had  
staggered upstairs, dropped his luggage in the middle of his room, and  
had barely made it to his bed.  
For the first time in three days, he managed to sleep for more  
then thirty seconds. Thanks to the warm familiarity of his own bed,  
he actually made it to sixty seconds. He spent the next six hours in  
a half awake stupor. Every time he fell all the way into sleep, the  
image of the demon would bring his out of it drenched in a cold sweat,  
but his exhaustion was such that he never woke completely. At some  
time he became aware of voices downstairs, but he did not have the  
energy to let his father know he was home.  
Finally during one of his periods of wakefulness, he became aware  
of a pungent odor. Lifting an arm he sniffed. Wrinkling his nose in  
disgust he realized the odor was coming from him. Hours of sweating  
in fear had given him an especially fragrant bouquet. Giving up on  
the thought of sleep, he decided to see if a hot bath might sooth him  
enough to allow him to finally sleep.  
  
Ranma looked up from the bath as she heard the door open. She  
expected to see her father, instead it was a slender boy, about her  
own age and height, or what once was her height, she corrected  
herself, he was about ten inches taller then her at the moment. His  
hair was cut short on top, but was left long enough in the back to  
form a small pony tail. While he was slender, he had very good muscle  
definition, he must train, she thought to herself.  
She drew herself up in the bath and rested her elbows on the edge  
of the tub, cupping her chin in the cradle her fingers made. To her  
surprise, the boy did not noticed her. Careless, she thought. A true  
martial artist should be aware of everything around him at all times.  
However, she did note in his defense, that he seemed bone weary. She  
had been in a similar situation enough times to emphasis with him  
slightly. Most recently while fleeing a certain homicidal amazon.  
Then she realized that this must be the boy her father meant her  
to marry, and any sympathy she might have had fled. Her expression  
hardened, and she looked at him with new eyes.  
He still had not noticed her, and as she watched, he tossed the  
towel he had wrapped around his waist aside and sat down on the  
scrubbing stool. Filling a bucket with water, he upended it over his  
head, shuddering as the cold water cascaded over his body. His eyes  
widened, with the shock of the cold water, and he reached down to pick  
up a bar of soap, and froze. He stared in shock at the small girl who  
was glaring at him from the tub.  
"W. . . wh. . . who, are you?" he stuttered, clapping his hands  
over himself.  
Ranma snorted in derision. "Don't bother, it ain't like you got  
anything I ain't seen before, and a lot better then what you got to  
boot...  
I'm Ranma," she stood up in the tub and Tenchi hastily averted  
his face, but not before Ranma saw a thin tendril of red run out of  
his nose. Again she snorted, this time in disgust, and stepped out of  
the bath. Walking across the room, she picked up a towel and wrapped  
it around herself. Opening the door she exited, but before she slid  
it shut, she turned back and said, "I'm your new Innazuke." She slid  
the door shut, and Tenchi stared at the shut portal in shock. Then he  
started as the door opened and Ranma stuck her head back in. "O, by  
the way, I'm a lesbian too." Then she slid the door shut once again.  
Tenchi stared at the door flabbergasted for a minute before  
finally finding his voice  
"Nani? . . . No way!"  
  
Out in the hall Ranma smirked, she was not sure what a lesbian  
was, but the several boys who had called her that in the last month  
had acted like it was something pretty terrible. Of course Ranma had  
flattened them, rather then asking for an explanation of the term.  
Just because she did not recognize the word, did not mean she did not  
know when she had been insulted.  
  
Later Ranma lay awake in the bed Nobuyuki-san had given her and  
Genma. She had shamelessly eavesdropped on Tenchi's confrontation  
with his father. If you could call it that, she snorted to herself,  
confrontations between Ranma and her father usually resulted in  
various contusions and lacerations. Tenchi's argument with his father  
was more verbal, and seemed to consist of Tenchi protesting and  
Nobuyuki cheerfully ignoring said protests. Tenchi would ask what his  
father was thinking, and Nobuyuki would go into raptures describing  
the blissful life Tenchi would have with his lovely new bride.  
Ranma had soon realized that Tenchi was not about to out and out  
refuse the engagement, and Nobuyuki was not about to listen to his  
protests on the matter. So it looked like her plan, such as it had  
been, had failed.  
As she lay there, she began to feel uncomfortable, while she had  
been annoyed at Tenchi wimping out on her, she could hardly blame him  
for not doing what she had not done. She was beginning to suspect  
that her father had tricked her. He was a little to lively for  
someone who had stuck a knife in his belly only a few days before.  
She should face him down again, but she kept remembering the dark  
blood that had soaked the cloth Genma had held against his wound, and  
her resolve to confront her father faded away. Besides, she had given  
her word. God how could she have been so stupid. She had panicked,  
she admitted that, the thought of losing the only family she  
possessed, had frightened her badly. That's it. It's not like I love  
the old fart or nothing, I just didn't want to be left alone is all.  
Still, she was damned if she was going to marry some guy. So  
what was she going to do. One thing she had noted about Tenchi's  
argument with his father. Not once had he badmouthed her. Despite  
her behavior in the bathroom, not once had he said anything nasty  
about her. Not even when his father started to praise her good nature  
and cheerful disposition. Ranma laughed to herself remembering how  
she had to fight to keep from laughing out loud at that point, and  
giving away the fact that she was nearby and listening in.  
Ranma, rubbed her chin as she thought. Tenchi wanted this  
marriage as little as she did. Maybe the thing to do was to put her  
cards on the table. They could always use the horse defense. Mind  
made up, she got out of bed, and crept out of her room.  
  
Tenchi supposed he should be grateful. This was the longest he  
had gone without a nightmare, or a daymare for that matter in three  
days. Learning that he had suddenly acquired an innazuke, and a  
future father in law who changed into a Panda, had completely driven  
thoughts of Yousho's demon out of his head. Well at least till now  
anyway, and even now it seemed a distant threat compared to this much  
closer situation. The problem was, she was obviously being forced  
into this by her father, and that was too bad. She was the sort of  
girl Tenchi had always wished would notice him. Well, she had noticed  
him alright, but not in any of his dreams had Tenchi imagined his  
dream girl remarking on his deficiencies as a man. Still, he could  
not help but remember how she had looked, and he wondered if she was  
thinking of him right that moment, even as he was thinking of her.  
  
The sound of his door sliding open brought Tenchi away from his  
thoughts of what Ranma might be thinking. He looked over at the door  
inquiringly, only to go wide eyed as the very girl he had been  
wondering about, slipped into his room. With her back to him, she  
looked both ways down the hallway, and then came the rest of the way  
into the room, sliding the door shut behind herself. Tenchi opened  
his mouth to protest her invasion, but before he could even get a word  
out, she was across the room and had a hand clapped over his mouth.  
"Shhhh," she whispered, "I don't want to be interrupted. You and  
I have some business to discuss."  
"Nani?" Tenchi said, keeping his voice low. Her remark in the  
bathroom about Tenchi having nothing she hadn't seen before came back  
to him. Combining that with the thin t-shirt she was wearing, and it  
was not long before a slight trickle of blood started to flow from his  
nose.  
Ranma did not notice, she was to busy trying to think about what  
to say. Sneaking around the matter had gotten her nowhere. She  
turned to Tenchi and grasping his pajama top, pulled his face to  
within inches of her own.  
"Look, I don't care what our old men cooked up, I ain't going to  
marry you, got it. That story Pop told you is full of shit. I ain't  
a girl, I'm a guy, and I did so fall in the Nyanniichuan. Pop should  
know, he's the one that kicked me in.  
Ranma noticed that Tenchi had a rather glazed look in his eyes,  
and she relaxed the grip on his top, fearing she had cut off his air.  
"Look, this is the way it happened," she said, backing away from  
Tenchi and sitting herself down on the foot of his bed with her legs  
crossed.  
Tenchi pinched his nose to stop the blood lose and listened as  
Ranma told her story. She covered how Genma had dragged her to  
Jusenkyo, and the foggy condition. She did not try to hide the fact  
that she taunted her father into fighting her. She described with  
some glee how she had managed to get the better of her father and slam  
him into the spring below where they were fighting.  
Tenchi was having some trouble following her story, Ranma was  
very into using body language, and her chest bounced quite a bit as  
she described the fight with her father, Tenchi finally with much  
regret closed his eyes, so he could focus on what she was saying with  
no distractions.  
"Well, when Pop came bursting up out of that fog, you could have  
knocked me over with a feather. All I could do was stand there and  
stare as the old fart who was guiding us spouted off about how these  
were cursed springs, and how Pop had fallen into the spring of drowned  
Panda.  
All I could think of was to get the hell out of there, but I was  
to late, Pop came at me, and the next thing I know, I'm sailing  
through the air surrounded by nothing but fog.  
"I mean, I couldn't see a damn thing, I didn't know up from down.  
Then I spotted a pole, and made a grab for it. Almost made it too,  
but this monkey comes flying out of the fog, and 'smack', right into  
me." Ranma punched her open hand with her fist to demonstrate the  
impact. "He used my head for a spring board, and the next thing I  
knew, I was splashing down in a pool.  
"Man that was weird, I could feel my body twisting and changing,  
and I knew I'd landed in one of those cursed springs, but I didn't  
know which. The only thing I could think of was getting out of there  
quick as I could. Problem was, that monkey had shoved so hard, my  
foot and one hand had driven down into the mud at the bottom of the  
pool. There was a lot of old Bamboo down there, and my Gi got tangled  
up. I might have drowned, but I'm a lot smaller now then I use to be,  
and my Gi was almost falling off by itself. I slipped out of my  
clothes and made it to the top. Course the first thing I did was take  
a deep breath, and that's when some jackass on shore threw a cup of  
water straight in my face. Instead of air, I ended up swallowing  
water. Shit, I came closer to drowning from that jerk then from when  
I was trapped underwater.  
"I was some mad, I'll tell you. I came out of that pool looking  
for a fight. Some guy with funny hair tried to distract me by shoving  
a banana in my face. Well I went up and over him, and gave him a boot  
to the back of the head while I was at it. Last I saw of him, he was  
splashing down in the same pool I'd just come out of, serves him  
right.  
Anyway, soon as I was clear of those goons I headed back the  
towards where I thought Pop would be. I really wanted to discuss my  
situation with him. Guess I got a little too mad, because I didn't  
watch where I was going, next thing you know, I come out of the fog,  
and I'm right on the bank of another pond, couldn't stop in time and  
in I went. Well I just about shit myself, let me tell you, but  
nothing happened, I crawled out the other side just the same as I went  
in. About then I figured that once you take a dip, the pools don't  
work no more, so I forgot about being cautious and just booted it back  
towards Pop.  
"Must have fallen in a dozen springs before I finally found him,  
and gave him a good pounding, but that didn't do me no good, I was  
still a girl. The guide, he wanted us out of there quick, and he  
hustled us out of the valley talking a mile a minute. Half the time  
we didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but one thing we  
picked up was that hot water would cure the curse, temporarily. Soon  
as we heard that we stopped and lit a fire. The guide, he didn't like  
that at all. All the time we were heating water he was pissing and  
moaning about this being very bad, and we should not waste time. We  
could of cared less, all we wanted was our own bodies back. Pop got  
the hot water first, I wasn't eager to be no guinea pig, and sure  
enough it worked. Pop turned back into a man, I damn near scalded  
myself dumping the whole pot over my head."  
Ranma stopped talking for a minute, up till now she had been  
rattling her story off like a machine gun. Hardly stopping for  
breath. Now she sat there looking at the bed sheet. Tenchi cracked  
an eye, and looked at her sitting there, a dejected look on her face.  
"And?" Tenchi said, an inquiring tone in his voice.  
"Obvious, ain't it, it didn't work. I must have heated a dozen  
kettles of water, and none of them worked, I had blisters from the  
heat for days afterwards. I might have hurt myself bad if Pop hadn't  
wrestled me to the ground and tied me up. He carried me the rest of  
the night, until the guide figured we'd come far enough." Ranma  
trailed off, and just sat there looking into space, caught up in her  
own thoughts.  
Tenchi had been listening to her for a good five minutes, most of  
it with his eyes closed. He found that without the distraction of her  
body, it was easy to think he was listening to a young man. Ranma' s  
voice and speech pattern was masculine. Tenchi found himself  
believing her story. He had seen her father transform with his own  
eyes, and with that proof of magic, he found it easy to believe Ranma  
was really a guy in a girls body.  
As long as he kept his eyes away from her more obvious feminine  
attributes. That is. Resolutely he kept his gaze on her face,  
concentrating on the sad, and lost expression that it showed. As he  
looked at her closely for the first time he became aware of her eyes.  
Startled, he blurted out, "you're eyes! There just like mother's!"  
Ranma snapped out of her funk and look at Tenchi in surprise.  
"Well, that's a new one" she said snidely, "Most guys tell me my eyes  
are special, and the windows into my soul, all sorts of garbage like  
that. Ain't no one ever said they looked like his mother's."  
"But they do! Look like my mother's I mean, and like my  
grandfathers too, I guess, They both had the same color eyes."  
Now Ranma was interested. "Really, I ain't never seen anyone  
else with eyes just like these, and let me tell you, it's a real pain.  
Guys can't say things about your body in public, so they all look for  
something safe to say to you. Most of the jerks started spouting  
poetry and whatnot about my beautiful eyes. Gets to be a real pain,  
let me tell you, especially when it's not your eyes their looking at.  
Got so I'd thump any guy that started a sentence with, 'You're eyes  
are like'. Well I guess there had to be other people with eyes like  
this, after all the girl who drowned in the spring had them. Funny  
they live in Japan though. Did your family come from China?"  
"No, I don't think so, at least not in grandfathers line.  
They've been looking after the Masaki shrine for seven hundred years."  
At the mention of the shrine, Tenchi went white, as the vision from  
the cavern once again reared it's ugly head.  
"Hey man, you alright?" Ranma asked, "you look like you've seen a  
ghost."  
"You could say that." Tenchi said with a rather weak grin.  
Tenchi proceeded to fill Ranma in on the legend of the Masaki  
Shrine, and the experiences he had suffered through a mere three days  
before. Not being able to say anything about what had happened had  
not given him anyway of getting it out of his system. Now after the  
story Ranma had told him, he was comfortable enough she would not  
think him crazy to tell her everything.  
Ranma gave him a cheer when he told how he had tricked his  
grandfather and stolen his keys. She listened raptly as he described  
his decent into the cavern that had opened up when he accidentally cut  
the wards. She gasped when he described the desiccated corpse of the  
demon, and how it rose from it tomb to clutch at his face. He brushed  
by the part where he screamed like a child and fled the cavern in  
panic. Instead saying he had shaken free of the demon's grasp and  
beaten it to the entrance, barely managing to reconnect the wards  
before it could escape.  
When he was done she sighed in contentment and said, "great story  
Tenchi, wish I could have been there with you."  
Tenchi was startled to say the least. "You do!?" he asked  
incredulously.  
"You bet, sounds like it was a blast, did you get in any good  
wacks when the demon grabbed you?"  
"Wacks!? Wacks!?" Tenchi shouted. "This was a demon, a demon  
who crossed mountains with a single step, who destroyed countless  
villages before my ancestor stopped it with his magic sword, and you  
ask if I got in any good wacks. No! I did not get in any good  
wacks!"  
"Ok, ok, don't have to bite my head off. And keep it down will  
you. Last thing I want is for my Pop to find me . . ." A sudden  
sound caused both Tenchi and Ranma to slowly turn their heads to face  
the door. Both afraid of what they were going to see. Their worst  
fears were confirmed, both of their fathers were standing there,  
beaming at them with the joyful expression only possible to the truly  
drunk. Turning to each other Genma and Nobuyuki each raised a large  
bottle of Sake, and made a toast.  
  
"Tenchi and Ranma. Together For Ever!"  
  
  
Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?  
Chapter 3: Demon and devils, O my.  
  
Vacation was over, and like fish returning to their birthplace,  
students from all over Japan were converging on their schools.  
Traveling down the alleys and lanes, converging on the main streets,  
and forming a solid mass, as different in reaction and behavior as  
they were similar in appearance. From above a witness would have seen  
many different reactions to the prospect of the first day of school.  
From the students who were eager to renew old acquaintances, to the  
students who had 'heard' about their new teacher, and were not looking  
forward at all to making their acquaintance.  
But even in this mass of humanity moving at different speeds and  
with varying degrees of enthusiasm, the casual onlooker would have  
found their eyes being drawn to one particular pair of young people.  
It was not that the boy was unusual, he was very not unusual, and  
in any other company, would have passed without a moments notice being  
taken, but his companion, now she drew the eye. It was not just her  
clothing, though that was certainly enough to attract attention. The  
black pants and red shirt were most unusual attire for a young girl,  
and despite the looseness of her shirt, it was not difficult to tell  
through the thin material that she wore nothing under it. Many a boy  
on their way to school, walked into a lamp post, or if they were  
unlucky a fire hydrant, upon noticing the girl, and taking the time to  
give her an appreciative glance.  
But even that was not the first thing that drew the eye. Was it  
her hair, a brilliant red, done up in a heavy braid that fell down the  
small of her back and reached nearly to her waist. That braid danced  
and swayed as the girl capered with all the appearance of great joy.  
But even that, despite its rich and unusual color was not what first  
drew the eye to the girl. What in the end caused every eye to look  
their way was that the girl was doing her capering on the top of a  
narrow fence nearly seven feet in height.  
  
Tenchi looked up at the small girl dancing along the top of the  
fence, and could not help but smile. Ranma seemed to radiate joy, and  
just being in her presence drove some of the dark shadows that had  
recently been haunting him away. He turned his gaze away from her,  
and said in a half joking tone.  
"I don't know what you're so happy about. Missing school is no  
big deal to you. From what you told me, you've missed more than  
you've attended. Aren't you afraid you'll grow up ignorant and poor?"  
"Don't got to worry about that. I'm going to marry a sucker, and  
he'll support me in comfort. Ain't that right sucker? Tenchi just  
snorted.  
"Besides, It ain't missing school that's got me so happy, that's  
just icing. It's what your old man did to pop yesterday." Ranma  
exuberantly leaped high into the air, and managed two and half  
somersaults before landing, one handed, back on the fence. With a  
little shove she flipped back to her feet. "Yep, your pop got the old  
man real good."  
Tenchi's mind wondered back to the day before. His father had  
just returned from work, and over supper, had brought up the subject  
of school.  
  
"Nani? You mean Ranma does not have a single school uniform.  
That's no good, she won't be able to attend till she gets at least  
one."  
Genma looked a little embarrassed. "Well, Masaki, you know how  
it is. We've been on the road for the last ten years, spare money is  
hard to come by, all we had went to keeping us fed, and to pay for  
transportation. I don't suppose you could lend us a hand until I get  
my feet under me."  
"I can do better then that," Nobuyuki enthused. "I checked the  
notice board at work, and there's a vacancy in the janitorial staff.  
I put in a good word for you, and if you go in with me tomorrow, I can  
practically guarantee you'll get it."  
Genma felt a little panicked at the sudden, and unexpected,  
prospect of working, but he had long ago learned to keep such things  
from showing on his face. "That's sounds wonderful Masaki," he said,  
but then he let his face fall in seeming disappointment, lifting a  
finger he shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and said in a  
serious voice. "But alas, I can't afford to be away from my daughter  
at this time. This is a very unsettling point in her life, and I have  
to be there for her. The job plus the commute would mean she would be  
alone from the time she got up, till the very late at night. You  
understand don't you?"  
Nobuyuki's face went stiff, and he turned himself away from the  
table, and away from Genma. Crossing his arms over his chest, he  
snorted in derision. "Don't lie to me Genma. I know exactly why you  
don't want to take this job."  
"Cause he's allergic to work." Ranma whispered to Tenchi as she  
raised a glass of water to her mouth.  
"It's because you don't trust my Tenchi with your daughter's  
virtue."  
Ranma sprayed water all over the table, and her father, who had  
facefaulted across the top of it.  
That's not it. Ranma would never . . . Genma hastily scrawled  
on a sign, which Nobuyuki did not see, as his back was turned to  
Genma. Ranma, meanwhile, was trying to expel the several ounces of  
water that had run down her windpipe.  
Tenchi was big sweating, this was only the second time he had  
witnessed Genma's transformation, and it was going to take awhile to  
get use to seeing an enormous black panda popping up out of nowhere.  
Then Ranma's distress became apparent, and he swatted the choking girl  
on the back in an effort to get her breathing going again. His father  
ignored them and kept on talking to Genma.  
"If you can't trust my only son, my heir, my reason for life, the  
last reminder I have of his dear sweet mother. Well, if you can't  
trust him, I don't know how I can continue to support this marriage."  
Both Tenchi and Ranma, who had finally recovered her breath, perked up  
at this.  
Genma big sweated, then after a minute he wrote, You say all I  
have to do is show up with you, and I have the job? He held the sign  
out in front of Nobuyuki.  
"My friend. How could I have ever doubted you?" Nobuyuki cried,  
spinning around and jumping to his feet, he embraced Genma, then  
looking over the shoulder of the seated panda, he winked at Ranma and  
Tenchi, who's faces had dropped into expressions that seemed to say,  
'I knew it was to good to be true.' Later on Ranma had realized just  
what Nobuyuki had maneuvered her father into, and had been laughing  
ever since.  
  
"Man, I never thought I see the day that someone put something  
over on the old man like that. Serves the old fart right. I hope he  
enjoys his days mopping floors and scrubbing toilets."  
  
Tenchi big sweated, and wondered what Ranma would be saying if  
she had witnessed Nobuyuki's meeting with Tenchi after supper.  
  
After taking a little while to think about the conversation at  
dinner, Tenchi had come to realize just how much his father had  
praised him. He had been filled with happiness and pride. It was  
doomed to be short lived however. Tenchi had been on his way upstairs  
to get his books ready for school the next day, when he had met his  
father in the hallway. Looking both ways to make sure he was not  
observed, Nobuyuki had sidled over to Tenchi and given him a small  
box.  
"I've done my part son, now make your father proud. Just be  
careful." Nobuyuki had wiped a tear from his eye, turned, and marched  
away. Tenchi had looked after him in puzzlement. Then he had looked  
at the small box in his hand, and seen it was a box of condoms. His  
chin had sunk to his chest, and he had moaned, "He never changes."  
  
Tenchi decided it would more then likely be a good idea not to  
mention that box to Ranma. Instead he asked, "So, what do you plan on  
doing today?"  
"Don't know, just bum around, get to know the area, find out  
where the soft touches are, that sort of thing. You want I should  
meet you after school?"  
"That's fine, I need to pick up some food. Knowing dad, the only  
thing in the house is likely old take out."  
Ranma snorted, "Not likely, not with pop there. There is no such  
thing as leftovers when he's around."  
Tenchi wisely kept his mouth shut, not knowing the meaning of the  
word leftover must run in the family, if the way Ranma had eaten last  
night was any indication. Just as Tenchi's train of thought reached  
that station, the school gates came into sight. "Well, here we are.  
Enjoy your day."  
"Thanks, I will." Ranma said with grin, and with a final wave of  
her hand, jumped from the top of the fence, to the roof of the  
building across the street, and from there, out of sight. Tenchi  
sighed, and for a moment wished he could follow her, in more ways then  
one, but then responsibility reared it's ugly head, and head down, he  
trudged through the gate, and into the school.  
  
"Gee, thanks mister, you sure are sweet."  
The boy behind the bakery counter smiled at the bubbly little red  
head, and wished his shift was over. "It's nothing," he said. "How  
could I let a cute girl like you waste away from hunger?" Then  
looking around to see where his boss was, he leaned over the counter,  
and said. "If you come back at nine, I'll take you out for a real  
meal. My parents are away, and I happen to know they have a pair of  
steaks stashed away in the freezer."  
"Oooo, that's sounds great." The kawaii girl said, but then her  
face fell, "but my fiancee can't make it tonight, could we do it some  
other night?"  
The counter boy face faulted. "Aa, no, I don't think so, my  
parents will be back tomorrow."  
"O, too bad, maybe some other time. Bye."  
  
Ranma walked down the street stuffing her face with the contents  
of various boxes. Buns, cookies, meat pastries, all disappeared down  
her throat. For awhile she had been afraid that her new neighborhood  
was going to be a bust in the food scamming area. It seemed as if  
every booth was maned by sour old farts that never smiled, let alone  
gave away food to cute little girls. Then a couple of hours ago, most  
every booth had suddenly been maned by young boys, and ever since  
Ranma had been making out like a bandit. She had made out so well as  
a matter of fact, that she was almost full, almost. Suddenly an  
altercation drew her attention.  
One of the old skinflints that had shooed her away earlier was  
yelling at a boy dressed in a yellow shirt with green pants tied  
tightly to his legs from the knees down. He had a shaggy mop of black  
hair that was barely controlled by a yellow and black head band.  
There was something about him that seemed familiar, and Ranma moved  
closer in an effort to hear what the fight was about.  
"You little punk. You think it's funny playing stupid jokes on  
busy men? You ask where Nerima is and I tell you go south. What do  
you do? You go west. Then you have the nerve to show back up here  
fifteen minutes later and ask me the very same question. Well boy,  
why don't I just call an officer? I'm sure he'd love to help you go  
where you need to go. RIGHT TO THE HOOSGOW!!"  
"Nani?" The black haired boy exclaimed, backing away from the  
furious old man. "But I didn't do anything. All I did was ask for  
directions." He looked like he wanted to curl up and die. His face  
was blazing red, and he kept darting looks at all the people the old  
mans yelling was attracting.  
"Asking for direction? Playing jokes on an old man why don't you  
say? Well I can play jokes too boy. Like the one where I tell the  
officer I caught you stealing food from my booth."  
"O dry up you old fart!" Ranma said. Both the old man and the  
shaggy haired boy turned in surprise to look at the source of the  
interruption. The old man with anger, the boy with gratitude. "You  
go ahead call the cops and tell a lie like that, and I'll tell them  
how you copped a feel while I was in here earlier." While the old man  
turned red and began to sputter incoherently, Ranma grabbed the hand  
of the black haired boy and dragged him away.  
  
Several minutes later they arrived at the train station. "There  
you go, you just buy a ticket, and you'll be in Nerima in no time."  
The black haired boy had been silent the whole trip to the train  
station, now he tried to thank Ranma for saving him. Tried, but  
without much success, he was mostly incoherent, and did not seem able  
to look Ranma in the eye. Ranma was pleased however to note, that it  
was not because he was too busy looking at another portion of her  
anatomy.  
In the last three months she had come to recognize the several  
types of boys in her age bracket. By far the most common, because  
they went out of their way to meet her, were the brash type who hit on  
every cute girl they saw. Ranma enjoyed manipulating them, and had  
ended up with many a free meal as a result. They always had to push  
it however, and Ranma almost always ended up breaking something  
fragile, which seriously compromised the prospects for more free food.  
Far rarer, because they never approached her, was the terminally  
shy types. Ranma was only aware of them because of the way they  
tended to peep at her from around corners and behind bushes. They  
could be distinguished from the common garden variety peeping tom by  
the fact that their faces were generally a bright crimson. Ranma was  
very found of them. They tended to leave boxes of chocolates and  
flowers where she would be sure to find them. The flowers she  
trashed, but the chocolates disappeared rapidly down a completely  
different disposal system. The best thing about these boys was that  
they never got up the nerve to try anything, and as such remained a  
constant source of candy for as long as Ranma was in their area and  
gave them the slightest bit of encouragement.  
This was obviously a prime example of the species. Ranma looked  
away from him, taking in the sights around her, waiting for him to get  
himself together enough to say thank you, and maybe slip her a little  
something for her trouble. There was an ice cream vendor at the train  
station, and a cone would hit the spot right about now. To bad he was  
leaving on the train, he looked like he might have been good for all  
sorts of no strings attached gifts. Then her eyes fell on the station  
clock, and she suddenly realized why the food booths had suddenly been  
filled with young guys. It was six o'clock, school had been out for  
two hours.  
"Sorry, got to go!" she shouted at the black haired boy, already  
several feet away and accelerating. Her sudden hasty retreat jarred  
the boy enough that he managed to get out. "Wait, at least tell me  
your name."  
"Ranma, Ranma Saotome," she called over her shoulder, just before  
vanishing around the left hand corner.  
"Ranma, what a sweet name." The rather bemused boy said, then his  
eyes flew open and he shouted in shock. "Ranma Saotome!?" He took  
several steps after the departed girl, but then rationality reared  
it's head. "Hold it," he said to himself, "Ranma's a boy, and that  
was a girl. The only way that could be Ranma would be if . . . he . .  
. had . . ." Suddenly the boy's eyes widened again, "Jusenkyo" he  
whispered to himself. Then he screamed, "Curse you Ranma, how dare  
you play with me like that! I will have my revenge!"  
He rushed off intent on catching the fleeing girl before she got  
to far. Reaching the corner he turned right, and kept going . . . . .  
and going . . . . . . . . and going.  
  
A few hours later filming on a climatic scene in the galaxies  
most popular soap opera was interrupted as a strange biped ran across  
the set, destroying the main support column as he did so.  
"I don't believe it, that's the third time this month!!" The  
producer, and main sponsor, screamed as he oozed out of the wreckage.  
"Get me the galaxy police, I want that barbarian caught."  
  
Ranma heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that Tenchi was not  
waiting at the gate. Tenchi was a nice guy, but he was a little bit  
of a pushover. She'd been afraid he'd have spent the last two hours  
waiting for her. Hopefully he'd seen she was not coming after a short  
time and was at home now. She started in that direction, and the roof  
of the school exploded. She whipped around and stared at the smoking  
building in surprise, and then she saw two figures moving in an  
unmistakable pattern on the roof. A grin crossed her face and she  
began to race across the yard towards the school. O boy, o boy, she  
thought to herself, just what I need to make this a perfect day, a  
fight.  
  
Up on the roof of the school, Tenchi was running for his life.  
The demon from the cave had followed him, and now in the guise of a  
cute girl named Ryouko, was intent on revenging herself on Tenchi for  
the crimes of his ancestor Yosho. He dodged left, just in time to  
avoid being fried by a bolt of energy that blew a large hole in the  
roof. Suddenly the steady stream of force bolts stopped, and Tenchi  
ducked behind a roof vent to catch his breath, then remembering the  
way the demon had cut one of the other vents in half, he rolled out  
from behind it, looking frantically for the demons present location.  
What he saw caused him to freeze in shock.  
A small girl with waist length red hair done up in a single braid  
was facing off against the demon.  
"Ranma, get out of there!" Tenchi yelled. "It's the demon from  
the cave."  
"This is the dried up old mummy you told me about?" Ranma asked  
in surprise.  
Tenchi big sweated at the look Ryouko shot his way. "Dried _ Up  
_ Old _ Mummy!" she hissed from between clenched teeth. A ball of  
energy formed in her hand, and then when she closed her hand tightly,  
it extended into a glowing sword. Once she reached that point  
however, Ryouko did not seem to know which person to attack. Then  
Ranma took the decision away from her.  
"Demon? Then I guess I don't got to worry about hurting you."  
Ranma said. Ryouko looked surprised, then gestured for Ranma to give  
it her best shot, smiling a fang filled grin as she did so. The smile  
disappeared quickly however when she only just managed to fade out of  
the path of Ranma's kick. Ranma cursed, and just barely managed to  
duck under the glowing bar of Ryouko's energy sword as she  
materialized behind Ranma. Tenchi watched in amazement as Ranma and  
Ryouko proceeded to put on a dazzling display of agility and speed.  
The demon would throw a force bolt, and Ranma would be long gone  
by the time it got to where she had been. Ranma would throw a kick or  
punch and Ryouko would fly above her attack, or fade from sight and  
reappear close behind Ranma. Ranma soon learned to move quickly when  
the demon faded, and was generally no where near the place that Ryouko  
appeared, but she kept up the tactic, trying to guess where Ranma was  
going to be when she reappeared.  
  
Ranma stood panting, looking at the figure of the demon who was  
leaning against the side of the stairwell, smirking at her. She was  
not even breathing hard. Ranma on the other hand had to use all her  
will power to keep her legs from trembling, she was down to her last  
chance, she had strength enough for one more try, and then she was  
done for, which meant she had better make it count. Damn her, she  
thought, how the hell does she do that disappearing trick? Is it an  
illusion? Does she have some way to make herself invisible? Maybe  
she's moving so fast I can't see her do it. Naa, that can't be it, if  
she were that fast the fight would already be over. Ranma started to  
replay the fight in her mind, trying to find a solution to the current  
deadlock..  
One of the prime tenets of the Anything goes school of Martial  
Arts, was observation. Ranma could recount move for move, second by  
second, a fight she had been in weeks before, now she applied that  
ability to her current fight, replaying every move the demon had made,  
looking for a weak spot. Then her eyes widened, and she called up  
every instance where the demon had pulled the vanishing trick.  
She's not moving her body when she shifts between locations Ranma  
thought to herself. What ever position her body is in when she  
vanishes, she's in the same position when she reappears. Right down  
to the most miniscule tensing of muscles. That eliminated the  
possibility that she was moving in such a way as to render herself  
invisible. Now the big question was, could she see what was going on  
when she was traveling from place to place. Ranma was pretty sure she  
could not, but there was only one way to find out for sure.  
"All right demon, this is where it ends."  
"All rested?" Ryouko said, giving a yawn before moving away from  
the stairwell, and towards Ranma. "Good. I was getting bored. Let's  
finish this so I can go back to playing with Tenchi."  
"O, I'll finish it alright, but the only ones you'll be playing  
with are your fellow demons in hell." Ranma said as she started her  
rush. As had already happened many times before, Ryouko vanished just  
before Ranma's blow could fall.  
As soon a she faded Ranma began her windup. Spinning in place,  
she used every muscle in her body, and the last dregs of energy in  
them, to accelerate her foot to where she estimated the demon's head  
would be when she reappeared. It was a show boat move, something  
Ranma would never use in a fight, it was impossible to do it without  
telegraphing your intent well before it could land. If the demon  
could see in her invisible state, then Ranma was toast, if not, well,  
she was in for a very rude awakening.  
The demon appeared, bare inches away from where Ranma had  
estimated, easily close enough to correct her foots trajectory. With  
a sound audible for several hundred feet Ranma's shoeless foot crashed  
into the demons chin, causing her head to whip to the side and forcing  
her to take a step backward in order to stay on her feet.  
Ranma let out an yell of accomplishment as she let the follow  
through from her kick carry her around in a circle until she was again  
facing the demon. Her victory cry died in her throat, and her eyes  
bugged out as she saw the demon straightening up, to all appearances  
non the worse for having been hit by the most powerful blow Ranma had  
ever thrown.  
Lifting a hand to her chin, the demon wiggled it back and forth  
slightly, then using her thumb, she wiped the corner of her mouth.  
Holding her thumb in front of her face she looked at the tiny smear of  
blood on it. Then she grinned broadly at Ranma. "Nice move red." She  
said mockingly, then her smile turned sinister, and she rubbed her  
fist in the palm of her other hand. "Now it's my turn."  
Ranma just stood there, unable to move, she had given it  
everything she had, had delivered a perfect blow, one that should have  
finished the fight, and all she had done was amuse the demon. What  
was worse, she had temporally depleted her reserves, the fight had  
taken a lot out of her, and the effort she had just expended had left  
her utterly drained. Given a few seconds to rest, she would be able  
to recover. It did not look like the demon was going to give her  
those seconds. She stood there, arms hanging a her side, lacking even  
the strength to make a token defense, as the demon drew back her fist,  
but before anything could happen, she felt herself being picked up by  
the waist and carried into the stairwell.  
  
Tenchi took the stairs three at a time, barely fazed, thanks to a  
healthy jolt of adrenaline, by the hundred and fifteen pounds of  
curvy, but very muscular, red head in his arms. Ranma just hung there  
limp, offering no objection to being manhandled. Suddenly an  
explosion at the top of the stairs blew them off the steps and sent  
them tumbling head over heels down to the lower hallway. They rolled  
up against the far wall with a thump. For a moment Tenchi sat there  
waiting for his head to stop spinning. Then a voice from above  
galvanized him.  
  
"Don't hurt yourselves," the demon's voice mocked. "I want to do  
that myself."  
"Still want to stay and fight?" Tenchi asked from his position on  
the floor beside Ranma. Ranma just looked at him blankly. Tenchi  
groaned, Looks like it's up to me, he thought, Ranma's out of it.  
Dragging the unresisting girl to her feet by one hand, he looked  
around wildly for someplace to hide. Spying the open door to the  
science classroom, he headed towards it, pulling Ranma along behind  
him.  
  
Tenchi quickly, but quietly, slid the door shut and hunkered down  
beside Ranma, below the level of the windows lining the hallway. He  
held his breath as he watched Ryouko's shadow move across the far  
wall, and then sighed in relief when she failed to discover their  
presence.  
"She playing with us." said a quiet voice beside him.  
"Huu," Tenchi said, turning to look at Ranma. The vacant look  
had disappeared from her face, and had been replaced by an expression  
of deep thought, she looked like she was in pain.  
"I said she's playing with us. I thought she had a few tricks,  
but was nothing special. The way she took that kick . . . she could  
take us anytime she wanted. So, she's playing with us. But why?"  
"Maybe she wants to make me suffer, she is out for revenge for  
Yosho's locking her away all those years ago after all."  
"Hmm, maybe, but there might be something else. Then she  
straightened up, her face taking on an excited look. Tenchi!" she  
exclaimed, "you said the magic sword was nothing but a mass of rust,  
despite the hilt looking good. Where's the hilt?"  
Tenchi was puzzled, but he answered Ranma's query. "In my book  
bag. It's probably still in my desk where I left it. Why? What good  
is it? The rest of it fell apart back in the cave. I only kept the  
hilt because I was in such a hurry to get out of the cave I forgot to  
put it back."  
"Which is probably why the demon is walking the halls right now.  
I bet you anything the magic is in the hilt. I thought it was awfully  
funny when you said it was still in perfect condition after seven  
hundred years. I may not have much education, but I've heard a lot of  
stories in the last ten years. It's sometimes seemed like pop went  
out of the way to take me to places where weird stuff happened a long  
time ago. You, the sword, and that demon are classic. Descendant of  
demon killer awakens demons, demons do nasty things, then just before  
he gets killed, he discovers his legacy and destroys demons. If I've  
seen it once, I've seen it a million times." Ranma laughed out loud,  
"We ain't got a thing to worry about."  
Tenchi laughed along with her, "That's great, you've really seen  
this sort of thing before? I thought that sort of thing only happened  
in stories these days." A sudden explosion caused Tenchi to revise  
his statement, "I mean, I didn't think they happened all the time, so  
you've seen demons in real life before. That makes me feel better."  
"Well, not in real life, but just about every anime I ever saw  
always worked that way. Let's go get that demon!" Ranma started  
towards the door, only to be brought up short by Tenchi catching hold  
of her arm.  
"You mean to say," Tenchi hissed at her, "you expect me to risk  
my life because it always turned out ok in the anime. Are you crazy?  
Those are real energy blasts she's throwing, not drawing's on an  
animation cell! . . ." suddenly Tenchi's eyes glazed over, "the energy  
blasts, every time she draws energy, the gem on her wrist glows. I  
forgot about them, their in the legend too. She gets her power from  
them, all we have to do is get them off her, and she's powerless."  
Tenchi laughed out loud. "It's so easy," he enthused.  
"Right, and how do you plan on getting close enough to get a hold  
of them." Ranma said in a quelling voice.  
Tenchi held up a finger, his face radiant, but then he big  
sweated and dropped his chin to his chest, "I never thought of that,"  
he said. Then he lifted his head and sniffed the air. "Do you smell  
that?" He said. Then he pointed frantically at a pile of rubble under  
one of the holes Ryouko had blown in the roof. "Gas, the explosion  
has broken one of the gas lines, we have to get out of here. One  
little spark, and we'll be history." Tenchi grabbed one of Ranma's  
hands and started to drag her towards the door. She jerked herself  
free.  
"Would you stop doing that! I ain't a girl! I can look after  
myself!" She shouted at Tenchi, then her eyes widened in shock, and  
she slapped a hand over her mouth. It was too little to late.  
"There you are, you naughty people. Did you really think you  
could hide from me?"  
Ranma and Tenchi looked around the room frantically, trying to  
find the source of that mocking voice, then they both saw her at the  
same time, their hair stood on end, and their eyes bugged out in shock  
at the sight of Ryouko's head, sticking out of the wall, for all the  
world like some sort of macabre hunting trophy. Then the head smiled  
at them, and with a shudder they watched as her body moved into the  
room along with her head, passing through the solid wall with casual  
ease.  
"No way!!" Tenchi moaned, "she can walk through walls." Then his  
eyes widened as he saw Ryouko beginning to draw energy into her hands  
again. "Stop, there's gas," he shouted. To the apparent bewilderment  
of Ryouko.  
  
Tenchi and Ranma raced down the hallway, trying to put as much  
distance as possible between them and Ryouko.  
"I can't believe I used that old gag," Tenchi said. "Look! Out  
the window."  
"I can't believe she fell for it," Ranma said in return.  
"O shit!!" Ranma cried, looking behind her at a wall of flame  
advancing down the hall towards them. "Run like fuck, she shouted.  
To late as it turned out. The pressure wave in front of the blast  
picked them both up and tossed them like leaves down the length of the  
hallway, barely in front of the wall of flames that accompanied it.  
Tenchi did a face plant and slid fifty feet on his chest, Ranma  
gracefully turned her body in mid air and tucking herself into a ball,  
rolled with the impact, bouncing to her feet as soon as she stopped  
moving.  
"Well, that's that," she said. "One barbecued demon, hold the  
sauce." Beside her, Tenchi clapped his hands in prayer, and then  
looked sheepishly at Ranma.  
"Sorry, old shrine habit. It's too bad, she was sort of cute."  
"Cute!! Cute!! Are you crazy. Cute. I don't believe it.  
Maybe if you like girls who could wrestle gorillas, who would as soon  
cut you in half as look at you. Cute, for gods sake, I don't believe  
you, she just tried to kill you." Unable to continue, Ranma turned  
her back on Tenchi in annoyance. Crossing her arms over her chest,  
she glowered at the flickering flames that were illuminating the  
hallway with a ruddy glow. "Cute." she muttered again in disgust,  
then "Boys" with all most as much disgust.  
Ranma's eyes suddenly widened, and spinning in place she caught  
Tenchi's arm and dragged him into a mid hall stair well. When he  
would have protested she clapped a hand over his mouth and gestured  
towards the hall they had just left. She mimed fangs, using her free  
hand's fingers held over her mouth.  
"Nani, you don't mean?" Tenchi whispered. Then he big sweated  
when he heard coughing coming from the direction of the flames,  
followed by a voice yelling out. "I will never forgive you!!"  
"We're doomed," Tenchi moaned. But for some reason Ryouko did  
not appear immediately at the head of the stairs, and they were able  
to make there way down them and into a lower hallway without  
interference.  
Tenchi led the way towards his home room, and once there, he  
found his book bag in his desk, right where he had left it.  
"Great," Ranma said, when Tenchi showed her the hilt of Yosho's  
magic sword. "I was right, look at the condition it's in. It could  
have been made yesterday. I bet these jewels in the handle are the  
source of the magic."  
"Actually, their Ryouko's. Yosho used the sword to take them  
from her, I remember the legend."  
"That must be what she's really after then, we have to keep it  
away from her."  
"No!" Tenchi said firmly. "Not we, it's the sword and me she's  
after. You get out of here, I'll hold her off until you're well  
away."  
Ranma glowered at Tenchi, then she reached out and grabbed his  
collar, and with a yank, pulled his face down level with her. "Just  
what the fuck are you trying to pull here, I say when I go or stay,  
what the crap do you think I am, a girl."  
Tenchi blushed, and letting his eyes drop slightly, said. "Well  
actually, it's just, well . . . yes. But just for a minute!" he  
hastily said, "it's just your shirt, it's sort of, well, it made me  
forget for a minute."  
"What about my shirt?" Ranma said, looking downward. Then she  
cursed slightly, she had not come through the battle unscathed, and  
her shirt was much the worse for wear. Her breasts were clearly  
visible through the various rents. "Damn it, and I just got this  
shirt, shit, that un-cute mummy is going to pay for this." When Ranma  
had looked downward, she had retained her grip on Tenchi's collar, and  
had inadvertently dragged his face down into close proximity with her  
breasts. When she looked back at Tenchi, he was blushing heavily, and  
had a slim streamer of blood trailing down from his nose. She looked  
at Tenchi's face for a second, then followed his gaze to her chest.  
"Pervert!" she yelled, in disgust, shoving him up against the  
classroom wall, "I told you, I'm a guy, don't go turning weird on me.  
This stupid engagement is bad enough, with out you acting sick. I  
thought you believed me when I said I was really a guy."  
"I did, I did," Tenchi hastily affirmed, "It's just . . ."  
Anything else he might have planned on saying was drowned out as the  
outside wall of the classroom blew in.  
  
Once again Tenchi and Ranma raced down a hallway, only this time  
instead of the blast rolling down the hallway after them, a series of  
individual blasts, shattered the exterior wall, one right after the  
other. Each one next to the previous, herding them down the hallway.  
"Bitch!" Ranma cursed. "That un-cute mummy is playing again, she  
wants us outside where there aren't so many hiding places. When we  
get outside, I'll distract her, you use the sword."  
Tenchi was too winded to reply, but he gripped the bag in his  
arms tightly, determined not to lose their last chance at living  
though this. He wished Ranma had listened to him and snuck out the  
back, but remembering how well she had fought on the roof, he was  
comforted by her presence beside him, and was glad she had stayed.  
They raced out the front door together and managed to make it through  
the gate, before Ryouko caught them.  
Tenchi was jerked backward as Ranma grabbed the back of his  
uniform and put on the brakes. Tenchi came to a stop about one foot  
in front of Ryouko, who just stood there smiling at him. Tenchi  
frantically scrambled backward, while Ranma took advantage of the fact  
that Ryouko was focusing on Tenchi, to sidle out to the side, trying  
to move around behind her. She did not really expect to succeed, but  
if she could draw Ryouko's attention, then Tenchi might have a chance.  
She was not expecting what happened.  
"Don't be scared sweety pie. I won't hurt you." Ryouko said,  
totally ignoring Ranma, then with no warning swung her sword full at  
Tenchi.  
  
"Nooo!!" Ranma screamed, how could she have been so stupid, the  
demon had only wanted them to show her where her jewels were. Now  
that they had recovered the hilt, she had no further use for them.  
Ranma started forward, sick with fear and self loathing. There was no  
way she could get there in time, but she could at least try to cause  
the demon some pain before it killed her.  
She was still several yards away when Ryouko's sword impacted on  
the book bag Tenchi held between two hands in a futile effort of  
defense. Then the sword that Ranma had witnessed cutting through  
every thing in it's path, stopped. A brilliant glow of energy flared  
up from between Tenchi's hands, and Ryouko was flung backwards a dozen  
yards.  
All three of them watched in amazement as the glowing hilt to  
Yosho's legendary sword hovering in mid air. Ryouko was the first to  
recover. "Impressive," she said, then unleashed a barrage of energy  
bolts at Tenchi, all of which flowed around him and the hilt doing no  
harm to either.  
Ranma's heart, which had been sick with dread, leaped back to  
life. Yes, she thought, I was right, the magic is in the hilt. She  
watched in glee as Ryouko launched an attack at Tenchi, only to be  
brought up short when a glowing bar of energy sprang from the hilt in  
Tenchi's hand to match the demon's weapon, and parried her sword.  
Then she felt a spurt of admiration as Tenchi launched a furious  
counterattack. It looked chaotic, but Ranma could make out an  
underlaying sword style she was not acquainted with. That surprised  
her, "looks like Tenchi has hidden talents," she mused to herself.  
Then a scream of fury from Ryouko made her realize that she had  
better start to play her part. Apparently Tenchi had called her a  
monster and she had taken grave exception to it. Well anger bred  
carelessness, time to take advantage of that. Darting forward, her  
body low to the ground, she snatched up a rake that some one had  
carelessly left laying on the ground. She whirled the rake in an  
intricate pattern around her body in order to attract Ryouko's  
attention to herself, when she got it she lashed out with a vicious  
blow that Ryouko could not possibly ignore, she hoped.  
With an angry growl Ryouko knocked it aside with a casual elbow  
that bent the heavy iron handle almost in two, and then snapping a  
hand out, she fired a force blast at Ranma that picked her up and  
smashed her into the nearby fence. Where she hung limply, the breath  
knocked out of her.  
Tenchi felt the sword twist in his hand, and suddenly he was  
being pulled along behind it as it dragged him towards Ryouko. With a  
hiss it swung through the air, and cut off the hand Ryouko still held  
extended towards the fallen Ranma. Slicing it cleanly off her arm  
just behind the jewel imbedded in her wrist. Tenchi watched in horror  
as the severed hand flew through the air and vanished in a puff of  
flame. The jewel that had been attached to it bounced several times  
before exploding in a fierce, but localized explosion.  
"Yatta," Ranma yelled from where she was just getting to her  
feet. "Way to go Tenchi."  
Tenchi did not share Ranma's pleasure. He was looking at Ryouko  
who was standing there with a sad look on her face. Blowing out a  
puff of breath she said sadly, "Oh well, another battle lost. My  
miserable lot." Then she blinked as she noticed for the first time  
that she was missing an appendage.  
Tenchi felt he had to say something, "I'm sorry! It was the  
sword, I didn't mean to cut your hand off." Ryouko blinked at him.  
Then she smiled, and for once, it was not a mocking or derisive smile.  
Holding up her shortened arm she touched a finger, that trailed sparks  
as she moved it through the air, to the stump. Then pressed the stump  
to the palm of her remaining hand. Drawing it back, she showed that  
she now had a brand new hand where had been only a charred ruin.  
Tenchi applauded enthusiastically, but trailed off sheepishly as  
he saw the look Ranma was directing at him. "Geez Tenchi get a grip.  
She was ready to kill you a minute ago."  
Tenchi held the back of his head with one hand, and laughed  
nervously, "But she's helpless now. Isn't she?"  
  
Ranma started to tell Tenchi to finish the demon off, but  
stopped, now that Tenchi had the sword she was no threat, and she  
looked so sad. It had been a good fight, it would leave a bad taste  
in her mouth if they were to end it by killing the demon girl, but  
what were they going to do with her if they didn't. Ranma was not  
looking forward to herding her back to the Masaki shrine so Tenchi  
could seal her back up in that cave. But what else were they to do?  
Ryouko took the decision out of their hands. She bowed to them,  
or rather to Tenchi, said, "Farewell," and sank out of sight into the  
ground.  
Tenchi and Ranma looked at each other. "Do you suppose she's  
gone for good?" Ranma said, a wistful tone in her voice.  
"I don't know, I'm just glad we all survived." Just then what  
remained of the school exploded with a force that almost threw them to  
the ground. Tenchi looked in horror at the remains of his school,  
then he started to head for home at a rapid pace. "Let's get out of  
here. I don't want to be here when the police and fire trucks  
arrive." Ranma nodded her agreement, and they both headed for home.  
  
Ranma sighed in relief as she made her way towards her room, It  
had been a good fight, her strategy had worked, it was too bad she  
couldn't have thrown the final blow herself, but the sword was  
Tenchi's ancestor's, so it was unlikely it would have worked for her,  
but at least she had come up with the solution. Suddenly she heard  
Tenchi cry out in shock. With a groan she turned and started back  
towards his room. What now, she thought. Then she suddenly snapped  
fully awake, the demon, is she back? She rushed towards Tenchi room,  
ready for anything, a smile on her face.  
  
  
Whew, well that's another one done. To think I originally saw  
this one ending after Sasami and Aeka were introduced. I just can't  
seem to compress my stories.  
Real life has slowed my output down a lot, but I will keep  
plugging away at this. Lots of replies will no doubt encourage me to  
write faster^_^ hint, hint.  
  
Many thanks to my Pre-readers.  
Tzigane  
Wade Tritschler  
Jim Nutley  
Green Eyes  
and Eimii, the lovely Pain Magnet, who had better get going on  
SHOTR, if she does not want to find out just how magnetic she  
is. ^_^  
  
Till the next chapter.  
T.H. Tiger  
  
  



	2. Default Chapter Title

Tenchi and Ranma, together forever!?  
An alternative universe, semi fusion saga.  
By "T.H. Tiger" schell@interlog.com  
  
The Characters from Ranma 1/2, were created by the brilliant  
Rumiko Takahashi.  
The Characters from Tenchi Muyo, were created by Hitoshi  
Okuda, may his wrist never go limp.   
  
Louis-Philippe Giroux, has very kindly posted the earlier chapters of  
this story at the following address.  
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/  
If you have not already done so, check out his story, Lines of  
Destiny, at the same location. It's well worth the time.  
  
What has happened,   
In this universe Ranma has, as a result of a run in with Herb of the  
Musk Dynasty, been trapped as a female from her first dip in the  
Nyanniichuan. She is not aware of Herb's part in this, and believes  
she is trapped as a result of falling into several springs right after  
falling in the Nyanniichuan.. She has spent the three months prior  
to this story getting used to being a girl, and while she is not happy  
about it, she has adapted to a certain extent.  
Genma sank into despair, his son's loss of manhood scuttled  
his plans to retire in comfort to the Tendo training hall. Then, while  
looking through some old papers in his backpack, he came across an  
old agreement between himself and Noboyuki Masaki that was  
drawn up prior to Ranma's birth. It was a commitment to marry  
Noboyuki's son Tenchi to Genma's child if he should happen to have  
a daughter.   
After a brief, very convincing, but completely phony, display of  
attempted suicide on Genma's part, Ranma reluctantly agreed to  
fulfill her obligation to carry on the Saotome clan's blood line by  
marrying Tenchi.   
Last episode, Tenchi and Ranma faced and defeated the demon  
of the Masaki Shrine. Or did they?  
  
  
  
CH 4, Ryo-oh-ki, Death and rebirth.   
  
Nodoka Saotome was going over the arrangements for her  
upcoming trip when a knock on her front door broke her  
concentration. Setting her tickets down on an atlas of China, she  
made her way to the door. "I wonder who that could be?" She said  
with a small frown. She was not expecting anyone, and her next  
door neighbor had already been over for her morning cup of tea.  
Reaching the door, she opened it and smiled pleasantly at the  
young man on her stoop. "Hello. May I help you?"  
"Saotome-san?" At Nodoka's nod, the boy went on. "I am most  
grievously sorry to intrude on you in this manner, but I have no  
alternative. My name is Kuonji Ukyou, and I need to talk to you  
about your son and husband, and a matter of honor." He bowed low,  
and waited for her reply.   
Nodoka's eyes had gone wide at the mention of her son and  
husband, and she stepped aside. "If the matter is as you say, one of  
honor, then you must by all means come in. I am always happy to  
hear word of my son and husband, and most especially eager to hear  
of any matter of honor concerning them."  
  
  
  
A bedroom in a typical, if rather oversized, suburban family  
dwelling. A curvaceous form slipped silently through one of the  
outside walls, leaving no sign behind to indicate how it had  
penetrated a solid wall. Once in the light, the form was revealed to  
be an attractive young lady with coarse, cyan colored hair. She wore  
a look of smug self-congratulation.  
  
  
Ryouko smiled in anticipation, this was going to be good.   
Tenchi was going to be so happy to see her. Her imagination in full  
overdrive she dropped to her knees and grasped at the pant legs of an  
imaginary Tenchi.   
"O, Tenchi, you have defeated me in battle. I have no where to  
go, no where to turn. I am," her voice caught in her throat for a  
second, " . . . utterly your's, please . . ." Here she lowered her head  
and bit a finger, before looking back up, artistic tears running down  
her cheeks. "Please . . . be gentle." She lowered her head and gave a  
little sob. Then she quickly stood up and assumed the role of  
Tenchi.  
"Ryouko-chan." Ryouko-Tenchi said, a catch in her voice. She  
reached out and gathered an imaginary Ryouko to her chest, stroking  
her hair with a gentle hand. "You are so very beautiful. It will be  
hard to resist the great desire burning within me, but I will try to be  
gentle."  
Ryouko stood there for a minute, eyes closed, smiling, then she  
threw back her head and laughed like a maniac. "Yes, oh yes, just  
like that. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA" In a quick motion she drew back  
the covers on the bed in the corner, and slipped under them, pulling  
them back up, and over her head, covering herself completely.   
Ryouko settled herself down to wait, stifling the laughter that  
threatened to give away her hiding place. The expression on  
Tenchi's face when she had confronted him at school had been  
priceless. She had gotten him back good for treating her like some  
sort of monster, and running off and leaving her in that cold dank  
crypt.   
Not that everything had gone quite as planned, she thought to  
herself, frowning under the covers. Tenchi's sister had come as a  
complete surprise. She had no idea Tenchi had one. There was no  
mistaking those Juraian features, however. She had to be Tenchi's  
sister. Well, that just added spice to the situation. She was almost  
as cute as Tenchi, and what a firecracker. Ryouko worked her jaw  
back and forth. It was still slightly sore from the blow she had  
received from the little red head.   
Imagine, she thought, someone that young, and untrained in  
the power of her heritage, landing a blow that hard. It was almost as  
impressive as the fact that she had managed to figure out how to do  
it. The girl had excellent instincts.  
O, yes, she thought with glee, it was going to be almost as  
much fun playing with Tenchi's little sister as with Tenchi himself.   
Maybe after she had worn Tenchi out to-night, she'd pay Ranma a  
visit. A little spice to go with her sugar.  
Ryouko's thoughts were suddenly disrupted as a connection  
that had not been active in nearly seven hundred years suddenly  
came on line. Ryo-ok-ki's passive sensors were picking up a Juraian  
craft moving into near earth orbit. Automatic systems analyzed the  
signal from the on board beacon that was required by law to be  
carried on every ship in space, a law Ryo-oh-ki had somehow always  
neglected to follow. The craft was the Ryuu-oh registered to the  
first princess of Jurai, Ayeka.   
"Damn," Ryouko swore, "Seven hundred years, and I'm not out  
of that damn cave one full week and they're here already, and  
Yosho's sister on top of that."   
So much for fun and games with Tenchi. She needed to up her  
firepower, and quick. She sent out a command to Ryo-oh-ki,  
ordering her to activate and get her furry butt over here now!   
Nothing happened. Again she sent, this time with all her strength,  
again nothing. She did not have sufficient power to order Ryo-oh-ki  
to full activation. That could only mean one thing, this was not her  
Ryo-oh-ki. She must have been damaged sufficiently in their last  
battle to require regeneration. So it was Ryo-oh-ki's  
daughter/sister's auto functions that were feeding Ryouko telemetry.   
Ryouko swore long and imaginatively under her breath. She  
needed the power jewels in Tenchi's hilt to re-establish the  
connections required to order Ryo-oh-ki to full activation. The faux  
one in her earring would not do. It was fine for drawing power, and  
manipulating power on a small scale, like at the school earlier, but  
not for this job. Only the originals had the range and power for this.   
As if on cue she heard someone opening the bedroom door.   
Tenchi, speak of the devil, she thought. Ryouko resisted the urge to  
burst out at him. She might not have time to play the way she had  
hoped, but she could at least do a little flirting, and who knows, it  
might make it easier to talk Tenchi into handing over the family  
jewels.  
  
Ranma had been on her way to bed, a very much desired thing  
after her busy day, when she had been pulled up short by a cry of  
alarm coming from Tenchi's room. For a second she hesitated,  
pulled by the siren call of her warm bed, but then she recalled that  
they still did not know for sure what had happened to the demon  
girl. So she turned and hurried towards her 'fiancee's' room.  
  
"What was that Noboyuki?" Genma asked. Looking up toward  
the ceiling. "Did you hear something?"   
Noboyuki had indeed heard something, and the last thing he  
wanted was for Genma to get inquisitive. He had gone out of his  
way to give Tenchi and Ranma enough privacy to do whatever they  
wanted. The last thing the two lovers needed was Genma  
interrupting them at a crucial moment. If he had been alone, he  
would have been discrete, a little window peaking, being very careful  
not to distract them, but alas, he had to sidetrack Genma. Tenchi  
was on his own. "It's just the house settling. Come, try this Sake,  
it's a particularly good brand, and I'd like your opinion on it."  
Genma forgot the noise, and reached for the warm bottle of Sake  
Noboyuki was holding out toward him.   
  
Ranma was about to barge into Tenchi's room, but she stopped.   
No point in rushing into an unknown. Not when a light around the  
door gave indication of a gap big enough for a little reconnoitering.  
Lowering an eye to the crack, she peered inside, and blushed  
furiously.   
  
Ryouko looked up from her position astride Tenchi when the  
door slammed open and an outraged voice exclaimed.  
"What the f*** are you doing to him, you old mummy."  
Ryouko stifled her annoyance at the mummy crack, time  
enough later to show Tenchi's sister she was anything but dried out.   
Instead she directed a languorous look at the fuming red head.   
"Don't worry cutey, your brother and I are just playing a grown up  
game." Both Ranma and Tenchi turned red, and blurted out  
"DON'T call me cutey . . . Brother?"  
"She lying, she wants the sword . . .Brother?"  
Both Tenchi and Ranma exchange puzzled looks, and Ryouko  
looked between the two of them. "She is your sister. Isn't she?"  
Ryouko asked Tenchi.   
  
A split screen formed, on one side was Tenchi's imagination,  
on the other Ranma's.  
  
Over Ranma's head an image appeared, in it, a SD Ryouko and  
Tenchi are in the same position the real one's are in, but Ranma-  
chan is now Ranma-kun. Ranma-kun minces over to the pair and  
glomps Tenchi. He says, in a sickeningly kawaii voice, "why no,  
Tenchi is my fiancee. We're going to get married and have lots and  
lots of Babies, Tee Hee!" Under the thought bubble the real Ranma  
shuddered and looked nauseous.   
"Yea sister, right, I'm his sister. You bet," she said quickly.  
  
Meanwhile over above Tenchi's head, in his thought bubble, a  
SD Ryouko is advancing on a SD Ranma-chan who is cowering in  
the corner. "Well, if she's not your sister, than I guess the sword  
won't protect her," SD Ryouko says. She grins an evil, fang filled  
smile and raises her sword to start slicing and dicing. SD Ranma  
screams in denial and covers her head with her hands.   
"Sister!!! She's my sister." Tenchi shouted. Then a little  
quieter when both Ranma and Ryouko stared at him in surprise,   
"he, he. Of course she's my sister. What else could she be?"  
  
Ryouko looked from Tenchi to Ranma, and back again, a  
puzzled frown on her face. Both Tenchi and Ranma big sweated,  
and tried to look nonchalant, without much success. Ryouko was  
about to say something, when a new data burst from Ryo-oh-ki put  
an end to all unnecessary talk and speculation.   
"We don't have time for games," Ryouko said. "Tenchi, give  
me your balls. Now!"   
"Nani, no way!" Ranma cried. She leaped at Ryouko and  
wrapped herself around the larger girl, trying to pull her away from  
Tenchi "No one's going to lose anymore balls around here, not if I  
can help it!," she shouted in Ryouko's ear.  
"Aaa Ranma," Tenchi said, blushing fiercely. "She means the  
power jewels in the hilt."  
Ryouko turned and smirked at Ranma, who's face was inches  
from her own. "That feels soooo good Ranma, but we'll have to do  
this later. Right now I have a devil to stop." Ranma looked at her  
blankly for a minute, then even as Ryouko looked down at her chest  
in a meaningful way, Ranma became aware that she was gripping  
something other then hard muscle. With a rather stunned look in  
her eyes, she gave a slight squeeze, and discovered that the large  
object she was gripping, while firm, was not in the least hard.   
Following Ryouko's gaze, she looked down to where one of her  
hands was currently groping one of Ryouko's substantial breasts.   
Ranma released her hold as quickly as she could, falling off of  
Ryouko's back, and on to the floor. Feeling very flustered, she tried  
to explain. "I didn't mean nothing. It was an accident. I'd never ..."   
She broke off, blushing furiously, and then said loudly and  
emphatically. "We're both girls dammit!!" Ryouko, despite the  
situation, noted Ranma's reaction, and felt quite pleased with it. Oh  
yes, her and this little fire cracker were going to have lots of fun.  
  
Down in the dining room Genma was happily on his third  
bottle of warm sake, while Noboyuki was on his second. "This is  
very good," Genma said, "but I think the first brand was a little  
better. I'd better try some more of that, just to double check."  
"Certainly, we must be sure," Noboyuki said. He reached for  
another warming bottle of sake, but was interrupted by a voice that  
seemed to come from everywhere. It was accompanied by a heavy  
thrumming from overhead, and a brilliant light that flooded in  
through all the windows.  
"Ryouko-san, come out."  
Both Genma and Noboyuki rushed outside, and froze, staring in  
shock at the massive wooden craft hovering overhead. The voice  
came again.  
"Ryouko-san, Ryouko-san. I know you are in there. You  
cannot get away from me now." Then in a much quieter voice, the  
stranger asked. "Are you sure this is on?"   
A different voice started to answer, but was cut off halfway  
through what sounded like, "yes."  
Genma and Noboyuki continued to stare, still frozen in place.   
They were soon moved however. A brilliant beam of light flashed  
into life and hit a nearby vacant lot. The blast that resulted picked  
up both of the men and flung them into the side of the house, even as  
it blew out all the windows in the neighborhood. For a minute their  
bodies stuck to the wall, like dead frogs on a road, then they slowly  
fell forward, to land heavily on the front lawn.   
Above them Ranma stuck her head out the shattered bedroom  
window and screamed at the ship overhead. "You goddam bitch,  
come down here and fight fair. Even the mummy fought face to  
face."  
"Who's a mummy?" Ryouko yelled from inside, and a book  
bounced off of Ranma's head almost knocking her all the way out  
the window.  
  
"What'd you do that for?" Ranma yelled, pulling her head back  
in the window and glaring at Ryouko. Ryouko paid no attention to  
her. She was standing there, her eyes closed and her arms stretched  
out toward Tenchi. Tenchi was holding the hilt of Yosho's sword  
toward Ryouko, in an attitude of prayer, his eyes closed as well.   
Even as Ranma watched wide eyed, a gem disappeared from the hilt,  
and re-appeared on Ryouko's wrist.  
Ryouko opened her eyes, a smile on her lips, a smile that  
disappeared as she stared at both her wrists. "Hey, what's the idea?   
You only gave me one."  
"Uh, hu," Tenchi nodded, a 'what type of fool do you take me  
for', expression on his face.  
"Good going Tenchi." Ranma said approvingly.   
Ryouko laughed out loud at Tenchi's caution, then said, "well,  
no matter." She closed her eyes and held her hands close together.   
After a moment of concentration, she spoke in a soft but intense  
voice. "Come, Ryo-oh-ki. Awaken." for several seconds she held  
that pose, then she relaxed and smiled. "She's coming."  
Tenchi and Ranma exchanged glances. Now that there was no  
turning back, they could not help but wonder if they had done the  
right thing. What had they unleashed?  
For a minute, all was quiet, then from overhead the whip crack  
of air shattered by the passage of plasm beams, was followed by  
distant explosions that came closer and closer until they were  
directly overhead and the noise was almost deafening.  
A white light flooded the room. It seemed to come in not just  
through the window, but through the very walls. Ryouko said, "lets  
go kids." Ranma and Tenchi both let out startled cries as their feet  
left the ground, and they started to float toward the ceiling. They  
faded from sight, and a second later, the entire house and part of the  
yard followed them. Overhead, a massive crystalline starship moved  
out of the shadow of the even larger wooden ship, and flashed  
toward the horizon.  
  
Saotome Nodoka raised her tea to her mouth and took a sip. To  
look at her, you would never know she was suffering torments. Or  
that it was taking all her efforts to keep her hands from trembling  
and revealing her disquiet to her guest.   
She looked across the dining table at Kuonji-san, who she now  
knew was a girl, and not the boy she had first taken her for. At first  
she had not wanted to tell Nodoka the complete story, wanting only  
to learn of Ranma and Genma's location. Nodoka had insisted on  
hearing the entire matter, and reluctantly she had complied. Now  
Nodoka was wishing she had not insisted. Lowering her cup to the  
table top, she said.  
"I hope Kuonji-san, that you will understand that I can not  
take your word alone for this matter. I must find and talk to my  
husband and son before I can make any determination."  
"That will not be necessary Saotome-san. I wished only to  
learn the location of your husband and son. It rests on me to satisfy  
my own honor."  
"Unfortunately, that is no longer an option. This matter is  
serious, and as Ranma's mother, I must address it." She looked up  
and smiled at Ukyou, "besides, I don't know where they are." She  
reached down and picked up her cup, while Ukyou looked at her  
thunderstruck.  
Ukyou started to simmer in rage. "You mean Saotome-san,"  
she ground out from between her teeth, "that I spilled my guts for no  
reason?"  
"I would not go that far dear. As his mother, hearing this news  
of my son was very important to me. I hope you will accept that  
reason for my insistence on knowing the entire story of your  
engagement and abandonment by my husband and son. If it is any  
consolation, while I do not know where they are now, I do know  
where they were going four months ago. I was planning on leaving  
in two days to go in search of them. They were due at the Tendo  
training hall three months ago, at least according to the last letter  
Genma wrote me. I recently visited his old partner Soun Tendo, and  
he had heard nothing. I intend to find them, and when I do, I will  
contact you, and we can settle this matter."  
"I'm going with you!" Ukyou said suddenly.  
"I beg your pardon?"  
"If I had managed to find them on my own I would never have  
bothered you, but now that I have, I'm not going to lose the first lead  
I've had. Besides, I can't let you go on such a dangerous trip by  
yourself."  
Nodoka pulled herself up straight, "I am perfectly able to look  
after myself, thank you," she said in a frosty voice, that did not deter  
Ukyou in the least.   
They argued back and forth for a while, and finally Nodoka  
allowed herself to be swayed. Ukyou with a satisfied look on her  
face left to get her belongings. The frown on Nodoka's face  
disappeared after she closed the door behind the departing girl, to be  
replaced by a smile. "There now, that should give me a chance to  
get to know my future daughter-in-law, and to talk her out of  
extracting vengeance on Genma." She looked over at a narrow cloth  
wrapped bundle. "That I reserve for myself. Imagine setting such a  
bad example for Ranma. How will he ever become a man among  
men with that behavior as an example." A wistful expression  
crossed her face. "Still, imagine Ranma being a heart breaker at such  
a young age."   
  
Five minutes later a knock sounded on the door. "Surely  
Kuonji-san is not back so soon," she thought. "Come in dear," she  
said out loud. The door opened behind her, and she turned with a  
smile, "my that was quick . . ." She broke off in surprise as her  
visitor came into sight, "Akane? What are you doing here?"   
  
Ranma was in the bottom most level of her own private hell. It  
had not seemed like hell when she and the others had arrived. Then  
it had been like some sort of crystal fantasy land. Everywhere you  
looked was crystal, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and in between  
all of that crystal, numerous smaller shards hovered in mid-air.   
Despite herself, Ranma had gawked like a tourist at the Tokyo tower  
for the first time.   
Then Ryouko had ordered her ship to leave, and Ranma  
discovered the truth. At Ryouko's command, a hideous sound had  
reverberated through the room, a sound so awful, so horrifying, that  
Ranma was currently curled up in ball in the middle of the room, her  
arms wrapped protectively around her head, and her face pressed  
between her tightly clenched knees. Her distress went unseen by her  
companions, who were looking elsewhere. Ryouko had her eyes on  
the stars, long missed. As for Tenchi, his eyes were focused in  
horror, at the miniaturized house that had been his home, and the  
doll like figures of his father and Mr Saotome on the front lawn.   
"Meow," had been the sound, and it had come from  
everywhere. Just like before. Just like in the pit. Above, below, to  
the sides, the cries had come, and soon after the sound, the claws and  
teeth had come. The first time she had been thrown in the pit she  
had learned, cover your face, protect your eyes. And so she did, they  
wouldn't get her, not this time.  
It had been a long time since Ranma had been this far into her  
phobia. The first few weeks after the pit, it only took the sound of a  
cat to throw her out of her mind. Then she learned that she could  
run, run faster than the monsters, faster than their hungry cries, and  
so, she kept her mind. Now there was no where to run. They were  
all around her, everywhere. She could feel them nudging at her  
arms, could hear their soft cries as they tried to get under her body,  
tried to shove her hands away from her face. If she had looked, she  
would have seen that it was the small floating crystals that were  
nudging her, that the soft murmuring of cat voices was coming from  
hard crystal, and not from soft flesh, armed with fang and claws.   
She did not look. She knew better. Protect the face. Guard the eyes.   
She pulled in tighter, clenched her legs and arms, and prayed for  
release, for death, for her mother. Prayed for anything and anyone  
who might make them go away. She only had enough control left to  
keep from shamming herself by screaming in blind terror, showing  
Tenchi what sort of a coward she really was.  
With her face hidden between her legs, she missed seeing the  
tangle field that condensed around Ryouko, holding her immobile  
while an upright log appeared and absorbed her. She did not take  
note of the other log that appeared and treated a panicked Tenchi in  
a similar fashion. Even when that log turned and addressed her.  
"Never fear my lady, I will be back momentarily to rescue you."  
She did not hear, did not care. Her mind dived deeper and  
deeper, seeking escape, and at last found it.  
  
Ayeka, first princess of Jurai, looked up as Kamidake, one of  
her pair of guardians appeared. She arched a delicate eyebrow in  
surprise when he disgorged a young boy from his interior. The boy,  
an inhabitant of this primitive world from the look of him, slumped  
bonelessly to the ground once he was out of Kamidake's tangle field.   
Something fell from his waist as he dropped, and the understated  
expression on her face gave way to a much less lady like one.   
"WHAT IS THAT?!? She screamed. Forgetting all pretense of  
dignity, she hiked up her dress and ran the few feet to the fallen boy.   
Kneeling down beside him, she picked up a short length of carved  
wood. Eyes disbelieving, she turned it over and over in her hands,  
before finally clutching it to her bosom.   
"Yosho." She said softly. Tears streamed down her face from  
her closed eyes. After a minute she looked up at Kamidake, who had  
moved back, and discreetly given her a moment of privacy.  
"Was. . . was there any sign of my brother?"  
"No my lady. But there was a lady of Jurai on board."  
"A lady . . . of Jurai. Are you sure?"   
"Indeed, my scan showed her to be quite clearly of Juraian  
descent."  
Ayeka felt an ache in her heart, a lady of Jurai, there could only  
be one reason . . . No, it was not possible, she searched through her  
mind trying to find some other reason then the unthinkable for the  
presence of a Lady of Jurai, and then remembered what Kamidake  
had told her earlier about this world. "This is a colony world, most of  
it's inhabitants will have Juraian ancestors," she said. She looked at  
Kamidake, praying he would not disagree, but he shot down her  
hope's.   
"She had the genetic traces that are part of the royal familie's  
code. All royal guardians are equipped to register that particular  
code string."  
Unable to deny the possibility any longer, Ayeka voiced her  
darkest fear. "Is she. . . I mean . . . Yosho's . . .?"   
" I am not equipped to make that close a diagnosis. It is  
possible, however."  
Ayeka closed her eyes, and went silent for a moment, grieving  
for what would never be. Then her head came up and she looked at  
Kamidake with determination. If this was her brother's child, then  
she had responsibilities to her, especially if she was with 'that  
woman'. "Was she a prisoner?"  
"I believe she was my lady, that is why I scanned her. She was  
surrounded and being kept prisoner by some of Ryo-ok-ki's sub  
units. The tangle field had immobilized them, and I assured her that  
I would be right back."  
"What are you waiting for?" Ayeka demanded. "Take this boy  
to a holding cell, and go and get her at once! We can't leave her in  
that foul ship one moment longer then necessary! Who knows what  
she has suffered at the hands of that woman!"   
"HAI!" Kamidake shouted, and faded from sight.  
Ayeka turned to her other guardian, Asaka, who had been  
patiently waiting. "You have that 'woman' secured," she said,  
venom dripping from every syllable. It was clear that if she had not  
been a lady, she would have been using far different terms to  
describe Ryouko.  
"Hai!"  
"Take her to the small dining nook, we can wait for Kamidake  
there." Ayeka practically glowed with satisfaction as she followed  
Asaka. "Your nature has run true, Ryouko. The stupidity that  
allowed the charges against you to lapse, may keep me from  
arresting you for your former crimes against Jurai. But kidnaping a  
lady of Jurai has put you in my power. The statute of limitations will  
run out on that crime while you are rotting in prison. You will tell  
me where Yosho is Ryouko, oh yes you will, or else, you will be very,  
very sorry." Ayeka lifted a hand to cover her mouth as she laughed  
long and hard.  
  
A few minutes later, Ayeka was pacing back and forth  
impatiently, "Where is Kamidake? What is taking so long? How  
long does it take to make a simple pickup and delivery?"  
As if on cue, a very battered Kamidake suddenly appeared,  
swayed for a second, and then like a felled tree, he leaned far to the  
left and fell to the ground with a crash, raising a cloud of dust,  
interspersed with splinters of wood.   
Ayeka looked at him in shock. His entire right hand side was  
gouged and splintered, with heavy curls of wood draped at the end of  
each long score mark.   
"Kamidake!!" Ayeka cried out in shock. "What happened to  
you!?"  
"My apology my lady," Kamidake said in a labored voice. He  
slowly, with aid from Asaka, levered himself upright. "I will be  
fine." he said in a slightly stronger voice, but with a quiver still  
present in it. "The shock was extreme, but my self repair functions  
are on line. Repairs are being implemented."  
"What happened?" Ayeka repeated, "Where is the lady, is she  
all right?"  
"I would have to say that she is very healthy, at least in body."  
Kamidake said hesitantly.   
At Ayeka's blank look, he turned slightly to the side, and a  
small beam of light sprang from the jewel in the middle of his  
forehead, or rather where his forehead would be if he had a head. It  
started scanning right to left at ever increasing speeds until it was  
moving too fast for the eye to follow, and it disappeared. A  
hologram image of the interior of Ryo-oh-ki appeared. The image  
slowly scanned across the bridge, past, and then back, as a figure of  
a young girl crouched on all fours appeared. The image stabilized,  
and the image of the young girl started to expand as Kamidake  
advanced on her. Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a snarl, and  
a second later she sprang. The image disappeared at that point in a  
burst of static.   
Ayeka blinked. "Nani?" She turned to Kamidake, "What is it?   
What has that monster done to her?" An angry look filled her face.   
She turned to Asaka, "Get her out here, NOW!! Kamidake? Are  
you well enough to help Asaka hold her?"  
"Hai!" Kamidake shouted, but as he moved into position a few  
feet from Asaka, it could be seen by his less then steady movements,  
that he was still unsettled by his experience. Once in position, they  
concentrated, and a field of force extended from each of them.   
When the two fields merged there was a moment of instability, and  
Ayeka could see Kamidake strain. She almost ordered them to  
desist, but then the interference stabilized, and the two fields merged  
seamlessly, and Ryouko phased out of Asaka, hanging upside  
down.  
"Sorry." Asaka said in a contrite tone of voice. "I'll fix that  
now."  
"Wait!" Ayeka said, then smiling a wicked smile, she added,   
"I like her like that. Leave her!"  
  
Ryouko had never lost consciousness, but she knew better then  
to forfeit an advantage, so she played dead, and waited for an  
opening. Slitting her eyes, she took stock of her situation. The fact  
that she was upside down caused no distress to a flyer, and she had  
no problem adjusting for the different perspective. Across the room,  
a figure that had to be Ayeka, sat calmly sipping tea. As Ryouko  
watched, Ayeka gave a gentle smile, and said.  
  
"It's been a long time Ryouko. I've been wanting to talk with  
you for a while. I have some questions for you." Ayeka got up from  
her table, and clutching Yosho's sword in her hand, approached  
Ryouko. "Who is the girl on Ryo-oh-ki? What have you done to  
her? Who is the boy? Why did he have this sword?" Ayeka snapped  
out. Each question emerging like a bullet aimed at Ryouko.   
Ryouko's eyes snapped fully open, and she grinned insolently  
at the blue haired princess, causing her to take a step backward.   
"I've done nothing to Ranma." She finally said after a pause to  
let Ayeka stew. "As for your other questions," she flipped her hair  
out of her eyes and directed a smirk at Ayeka, "only a bonehead  
could fail to know the answer. I was never one to waste my time  
educating fools, so, get stuffed!" Ryouko turned her face from Ayeka.   
Who had reared back in surprise at Ryouko's answer, her mouth  
open in shock. No one had ever spoken to her like that. An angry  
frown crossed her face. She nodded at both Kamidake and Asaka,  
and they responded. High voltage current surged through the tangle  
field holding Ryouko, and her body arched in pain.  
  
Ryouko gasped as pain washed through her body, but she  
refused to cry out. Refused to give this spoiled brat the satisfaction.   
Her resolve waned as the next surge tore through her body. The pain  
was too much, too severe, she had to cry out. Then . . . inspiration!   
She opened her mouth and screamed, not in apparent pain, but in  
ecstacy. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" She cried, her body trembling  
with seeming pleasure.  
Almost immediately the shocks ceased, as the badly flustered  
Ayeka ordered the Guardians to cease and desist. Ryouko grinned,  
and mentally marked down one for her side. She hovered in the  
tangle field, and waited for the princess's next move.  
  
  
Ranma-neko prowled the dim empty reaches of Ryo-ok-ki's  
bridge, wailing mournfully. She was frightened and lonely. She did  
not like this strange place. The smells were old and musty, and  
there was nothing to chase. Always there had been something to  
chase when she had woken before. This time there had only been  
the strange moving tree, and it had vanished before she could do  
more then barely sharpen her claws on its bark. Since then she had  
been alone.   
  
Deep in Ryo-ok-ki's mind, a segment that had ignored  
Ryouko's call, was now finding itself unable to equally ignore the  
wailing of the small girl presently prowling her deck. To think was  
to act, and the section that had kept itself separate when the rest of  
her mind had woken, merged with the small segment that had been  
controlling her body up till now. Using her inner sensors, Ryo-oh-ki  
scanned the interior of her bridge, and what she saw filled her with a  
sweet sorrow. So like her little lost ones. Unable to leave the small  
girl in the pain of loneliness, she over rode the Juraian tangle field  
on one of her subunits, and morphed it into a body she had vowed  
never to wear again.   
  
A sudden shift in the air caused Ranma-neko to whirl, her back  
arched in threat, ready to spring. On the other side of the room a  
figure knelt. Human? The visual cues were confusing, some said  
nice person, source of food, source of ear scratches. Other cues said  
animal, also source of food, but not in the same way. Distrusting her  
eyes, Ranma-neko moved closer, trying to sniff out this newcomers  
scent. If Ranma-neko's other self had been in control of her body,  
she would have seen what looked like an attractive woman, maybe in  
her early thirties, but with a face completely covered in fur. The fur  
on her face was a light brown and was short enough that in the dim  
light of the ship, it might have passed as dark brown skin, but the  
heavy mane that covered her head and ran down the side of her head  
could never be mistaken for hair. Brown with white highlights, it  
framed a face of surpassing sweetness. So distinctive was that heavy  
mane, it made an observer look closer and recognize the facial  
covering for what it was.   
Ranma-neko noted none of this. Not for her to say, this looks  
like a person, but with fur, sharp fangs, and a face with more then a  
little feline in it. She classified other creatures in three categories.   
Threats, to be dealt with as rapidly as possible. Play and food, to be  
chased and tossed, and eventually devoured, and last, and very rare,  
soft laps and gentle hands to give comfort and pleasure.  
There were certain things about this particular creature that  
made Ranma-neko think it might have a very soft lap. A stillness to  
its body, denoting no fear, no threat. The eyes following her motion  
were soft and gentle, not narrowing in calculation at her approach.   
Finally after following a round about route, Ranma-neko came close  
enough to the kneeling figure to risk a cautious sniff. She registered  
the clean scent of a freshly laundered Kimono, and underneath that a  
strange smell that was equal parts animal and mineral. The  
kneeling figure made no move and she inched forward, smelling the  
hands that lay cupped in its lap. Extending a small pink tongue she  
licked the palm of one of the hands, and tensed as the other one  
moved. She crouched, ready to fight or flee, waiting to see what the  
creature was going to do. Slowly the hand moved toward her, no  
threat implied. It reached her head and softly stroked her cheek,  
causing pleasurable sensation's. Ranma-neko pressed her cheek  
against the stroking hand and a purr rumbled deep in her throat.   
This was most definitely a warm lap creature then, she thought with  
more then a little satisfaction.   
Lowering her head she nudged the hand that was still laying in  
the strangers lap. When its owner lifted it, Ranma-neko flowed into  
the inviting resting place. Tucking her arms and legs under her  
body, and laying her head down on her front paws, she purred in  
pleasure, as the owner of her resting place gently stroked her head  
and back. Tired, she let her eyes shut, and as the creature continued  
to fulfill its function in life of supplying her with pleasure, she  
slipped into sleep.  
  
With a deadly hiss the thin black whip arced through the air,  
then landed with a wicked 'crack' parting the thin cloth and leaving  
a thick red welt behind.  
"AAHHHH" Ryouko screamed out in pain. As the whip lay a  
band of fire across her already much abused back. "Please, mercy,  
mercy." She cried out, but Ayeka paid her no mind, only drawing  
back the subtle leather lash for another stroke.   
"Please Princess, my lady, no more, no more, I'll tell you what  
ever you wish to know. Only no more please." The figure hanging  
between Kamidake and Asaka, was facing away from Ayeka. Her  
back a mixture of tattered cloth and abused flesh. Now, after her  
entreaty for mercy, she lowered her head and began to weep  
piteously.  
"To late for mercy Ryouko-san, you have to long escaped  
justice. For what you have done to my family, you must pay." Ayeka  
lifted a hand to decorously cover her mouth as she laughed long and  
loud. Her laughter was abruptly cut short by a voice speaking from  
the shadows.  
"Aki-chan, time for bed, but down your toys and come with  
mommy."  
A suddenly five year old Ayeka looks up at the tall figure of her  
mother Misaki and pouts, "Do'n wanna."  
"Little girls need there rest, now come to bed right now. You  
don't want to make mommy cry do you?" Little Ayeka flinches as  
hot tears suddenly start to rain down on her head, soaking her nice  
new dress. Misaki bends over and picks her up. As she is being  
carried away, Ayeka looks back over her mother's shoulder and sees  
Ryouko, free of her bonds and completely undamaged walking away  
hand in hand with her brother.  
"Onisan, onisan, don't go, don't leave me," she cries out,  
holding her arms out toward Yosho, but her brother does not turn.   
Instead he fades slowly out of sight as she is carried farther and  
farther away. Just before they fade completely from sight, Ryouko  
turned back and said.  
"That's a good little girl, you go off with Mommy. Your  
brother and I are going to go and play some grown up games." She  
grins at Ayeka, showing all of her sharp and predatory teeth. She  
throws back her head and lets out a full throated laugh, that goes on  
and on, as Ayeka is carried away.  
  
Ayeka tossed on her bed, and Tenchi froze, his hands inches  
away from the Tenchi Ken. Sasami had sent him here to get  
Ayeka's controller. With that, Sasami said, she could send Tenchi  
and his home back to earth. She had not mentioned that Ayeka did  
not take it off when she slept. How he was suppose to get the  
headpiece off her head he had no idea, but when he had spotted the  
Tenchi Ken, gripped tight in her hand, he had decided to recover  
that first. Slowly he reached for the wooden hilt, only to have the  
princess roll away from him.   
This was no good, he had to recover that sword, he carefully  
got up on her bed and straddled her body, and once again reached for  
the sword hilt.  
  
Ayeka turned on her side, tossing in her bed, Yosho she  
murmured.  
"Yes little sister, what is it?"  
Ayeka sat up in her bed and looked at the doorway to her room,  
and the figure standing in it, in incredulous joy. "Yosho?" She  
breathed out, "Is it really you onisan?"  
He laughed. And her heart fluttered as he stepped into the  
room, as tall, and as handsome as she remembered. "Of course it's  
me. I should be the one who is asking whether it is you or not. You  
have grown up to be such a beautiful lady."  
Ayeka blushed, and looked down at her bed spread. Doodling  
with the thin covers with one finger she said, "Do . . . Do you really  
think so?"  
The mattress of the bed heaved slightly as he sat down beside  
her. "How can you doubt it? You are the fairest flower of Jurai." He  
leaned forward, she closed her eyes and turned her face up toward  
him, pursing her lips. Then she has a sudden urge to see his face,  
opened her eyes, and stared straight into the face of the boy  
Kamidake had brought on board, she started to scream, and he  
clapped his hands over her mouth.  
"It's not what it seems" He said in a panicked voice.   
For a second, they held that pose, then she brought one slim  
leg up between there bodies and kicked him away from her. He  
tumbled over the end of the bed, and took off running.  
"Kamidake, Asaka!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.   
The two Guardians appeared almost instantly, fading into sight  
beside her bed.   
"Hai?" they asked in a questioning tone.  
Pointing a finger in the direction Tenchi had taken off in, she  
screamed. "Put that Intruder to death!!"  
  
Ryo-oh-ki looked down at the small girl sleeping in her lap.   
Emotions she had not let herself feel in nearly six hundred years  
flooded through her. Gently she stroked the red hair that flowed  
down over the girls back, and tried to remember the last time she  
had held a child like this.  
"Ken-oh-ki, my little Ken-oh-ki was the last. So many years  
ago. So many lonely years."   
"Who are you little one? Where did you come from?" Ryo-oh-  
ki used her hand as a remote sensor unit, and scanned the sleeping  
figure as she stroked her. "Juraian,' she murmured. "Then you are  
of Yosho's line. I do not know if I should hate you, or bless you. If  
not for Yosho, I would not have spent the last six hundred years in  
mourning, but I also would not have had anything to mourn, or even  
have had the capacity to do so."   
The girl in her lap twitched, and gave a small cry of distress.  
Ryo-oh-ki's slowly stroked the sleeping girl in an effort to calm her.   
Then when her motions grew more frantic, she pulled the small girl  
up into her arms and cradled her against her chest. She was not  
entirely successful in her attempts to calm her, but the girl did settle  
down a little, and did not seem quite as distressed.  
  
Ranma was standing in water up to her thighs, leaning back  
against a pole. Without looking, she knew somehow that the pole  
was bamboo, and that water she was standing in was a Jusenkyo  
pool. At the moment she was looking at her chest, more specifically  
at her hand, which was clutching at a source of mind numbing pain.   
Her hand moved, though she had not willed it to, and she saw that  
there was a charred hole in her chest, just below her left breast. She  
looked up, at a log, that was hovering in the air. Strange Kangi  
covered it's front, and a small jewel sputtered and fizzed as the thin  
rain that was falling splattered across it. Again without knowing  
why, she knew that the jewel was the source of the hole in her chest.   
  
"Well, brought to bay at last. You've led me a fine chase my  
pretty barbarian, but the outcome was never in doubt." Ranma's  
field of vision shifted, and she found herself focusing on a rather  
foppish figure as he stepped out of some nearby bushes. He walked  
over to the floating log, and gave it a fond pat. "Imagine old  
Jakaaha succeeding where those mercenaries failed. I really must  
thank you for that by the way. The twins had become, how should I  
put this? An embarrassment. Sooner or later the attempt on the  
empress would have been traced to them, and the Count no longer  
wished them in his employ. You made me a pretty penny when you  
disposed of them for me. Aa, the expression on their faces when you  
dropped that mountain side on them. That alone would make me  
inclined to be lenient. But alas, I have my duty, and an empty bank  
account to fill. You know how it is?" He grinned sardonically at her.  
  
Ranma felt more hatred for this strange man she had never  
before seen, then she had ever felt for any other living soul. The  
hatred burst through the rather disconnected feeling she had been  
experiencing up till then. She tried to spring at the figure, angry  
curses on her lips, but her body did not move, nor did her voice cry  
out her insults. Ranma strained, growing panicked by her inability  
to move her own body, but then a presence seemed to lay a hand on  
her, and she felt the hatred and anger diminish, and once again  
become vague and dream like. Dream like, that was it, this was a  
dream, it had to be. The last thing she remembered was the crystal  
room and . . . her mind shied away from the next thought, and she  
focused instead on the dream image in front of her. He was still  
speaking, just where he had left off when Ranma had lost her  
temper, no time having passed in this dream realm.  
"In a way it's a pity your going to die. Now that is," He  
qualified. "Of course you would have had to die eventually, just like  
your sister is going to have to die. But it would have been pleasant  
to have your company on the trip back. I'll just have to consol  
myself with all the money your death will bring me."  
Even through the veil that separated her from the events in her  
dream, Ranma felt energy drawing in from all parts of her body, and  
was conscious of her mouth silently forming words she did not  
understand. Her eyes focused on the face of the man who was  
talking, with a terrible fixity, narrowing her own personal world  
down to just that face. He did not notice, or did not care.  
"And then of course there is your sister, a little young I know,  
but she will supply a bit of fun before she has to leave us. Oh yes,  
this has been a most profitable venture, who would have thought  
your father would have been so foolish as to have come here, out of  
all the planets he could have hidden on. No doubt the fault of his  
barbarian sensibilities."  
A new voice broke in at that point. "Caution, unknown energy  
reading, caution." Ranma realized it was the log when it shifted over  
to stand in front of the speaker.   
"Really, where from? Surely not from this half drowned little  
wretch? You have got to be kidd....? Wait, what are you doing?   
Jakaaha!! Stop her, stop whatever that is she's doing with her  
hands."  
Up till this point Ranma had been focusing on the speaker, but  
now she once again felt the sense of unreality from before as her  
hands lifted into her field of view, glowing with an intense white  
light, and again she had nothing to do with it. The jewel in the log  
sparked, and a beam of light flashed toward them. To be stopped by  
one of three, serrated edged triangles, that centered on the glow in  
her hands.   
"Impossible, no human can generate the Wings of the Light  
Hawk!!" The foppish man cried in fear. "Kill her, kill her!" He  
cried, pushing at the log, trying to shove it toward Ranma.  
"I regret that I am unable to comply with your order sir. My  
energy beam is useless against her shield." The log answered in a  
dispassionate voice.  
With visible effort the man controlled himself, straitening his  
disarranged clothing. "No matter," he said in a shaky voice. "She's  
as good as dead, let her waste her energy on a useless defense.   
Generating the wings of the light hawk is a flashy trick, but they  
won't save her, or her sister. I'd love to know how you do that my  
dear, but I have a date with your oh so sweet sister. So I'll be going  
now, I leave you to your bath."  
"Not hawk wings." for the first time Ranma answered the  
stranger, much to her surprise, because it was not her voice, nor had  
she willed it to speack. A flood of warm thick fluid entered her  
mouth, and she recognized the taste from countless bloody noses and  
split lips. But never in this quantity, never this strong, and she knew  
that she was dead, it was only a matter of time. But the knowledge  
seemed to be a distant thing, unimportant in comparison to what she  
must do now.  
Again her voice said in that bubbly tone that denoted a  
punctured lung. "Dragon wings"   
The man had jolted when Ranma had spoken, but he sneered at  
her now. "Well whatever you say my dear, far be it for me to argue  
with your cultural idiosyncracies." Then his eyes widened as the  
serrated wings furled around each other and formed a fat bellied tube  
pointing straight at him.  
"Ryuu!!"  
"Master beware!" The log shouted, moving once again between  
her and his master.  
"Satsu!!"  
"Don't just stand there, get me out of here!!" the man  
screamed, his voice high with panic.  
"Haaaaaaa!!"   
A storm of light flashed from the end of the tube, blinding  
Ranma. When her vision cleared there was nothing in front of her,  
nothing but a floating cloud of red tinged, wooden slivers. A feeling  
of great satisfaction filled her. She slumped forward, the water  
closed over her head, and she slipped down into the darkness.  
  
  
Ryo-oh-ki had been drifting, remembering other times, other  
memories, and other moments she had held small forms in her lap, a  
small tear trickled down one furry cheek. Her private musing were  
interrupted when the figure in her lap stirred, thrashed, and fought  
against Ryo-oh-ki's hands. Fearing that her hug was contributing to  
a bad dream she released the small girl from the embrace she had  
holding her in, and hoped she would be calm when she fully awoke.  
"Where?" The girl finally said in a muzzy confused voice.   
Ryo-oh-ki felt her stiffen, and she knew that the girl was now fully  
awake. She could almost follow the processes of the redhead's mind.   
She would be analyzing the situation, trying to reconcile it with the  
dream she had just had. Ryo-oh-ki's own children had all been  
trained fighters, and they would often awake in just this manner  
when in a strange place, or after a bad dream. This girl was in both  
of those situations..  
A soft, "Oh man, not again," floated up to her ears, and the  
girl rolled off her lap, leaving it empty and cold.  
"Sorry about this," the girl said, getting her feet under her and  
standing, but still not looking at Ryo-ki-ki. What could be seen of  
her face was almost as red as her hair. "I hope I didn't scare you or  
nothing. . ." She looked up, and for the first time saw Ryo-oh-ki. An  
expression of stark fear crossed her face, and she leaped across the  
room in panic. "C . . . c . . . cat." She stuttered out in a voice  
shaking in fear.  
Ryo-oh-ki stayed still, but inside she drew certain conclusions.   
In a gentle voice, she said. "I'm not a cat little one, there is no need  
to fear me. Have you ever seen a cat like me?"  
"N . . .no." The girl said in a long drawn out way. "I ain't seen  
nothing like you, ever." She did not come any closer however.   
"What are you?"  
"I am Ryo-oh-ki."   
"The other demon," The girl said in surprise. "You don't look  
like no demon. You're strange and all, but you don't look, . . . I  
don't know bad, I guess."  
"Thank you." Ryo-oh-ki said, with a smile. "And what is your  
name?"  
"Ranma."  
"Well, Ranma, I'm not really the same creature your ancestor  
fought. That was my mother/sister."  
"Mother/sister?" Ranma asked, a puzzled expression on her  
face. Her face grew even more puzzled as a thought occurred to her.   
"I thought the other demon was some sort of giant flying thing? I  
thought, this," she waved a hand to indicate the room they were in,  
"Was Ryo-oh-ki?"  
"It is, and I am," Ryo-oh-ki said. Before Ranma could voice  
the question that was immediately obvious on her face, Ryo-oh-ki  
continued. "I am a, . . . shape shifter would be the best word. I can  
change myself from one form to another, and I can also split myself  
into several discreet entities, but if I do that, only one of them carries  
my core personality, the others are merely mirrors. That is what I  
am doing now. I am here." She waved a hand at her body, "but I am  
also here." This time her wave encompassed the entire room. Seeing  
that Ranma was still looking blank, she said. "Do not worry, just  
accept that there are two of me at the moment, one small, one very  
large. Now, as to your first question."  
"Huh?"  
"Mother/sister."  
"Oh, that, ya, what'd you mean by that?"  
"It is simple really. If I am so badly damaged that there is no  
hope of repair or healing, I can create a small clone of myself. It  
will be a baby, but it will eventually grow up to be just like me, but  
without my personality. Memories and instincts can be passed on,  
but personality is what grows from how you were raised. It was not  
me who fought Yosho and his ship, but rather the Ryo-oh-ki who  
came before me. I have all her memories, but I was not raised as she  
was, and am not the same person. So she is not precisely my  
mother, and is not quite my twin, so Mother/sister." Seeing  
Ranma's expression, she laughed. "Don't let it give you a headache,  
it will come eventually. You do not have the knowledge at the  
moment to understand completely. Think of it as a fairy story come  
to life."  
Her laughter was not derisive, but was filled with joy and  
pleasure, and Ranma felt the last of her fear melt away under its  
warm glow. She moved closer to this strange woman, then for the  
first time, realized that there were people missing. "Tenchi?   
Where's Tenchi?" She said, looking all around the bridge.  
"The sword, I believe it was with the boy the Juraian Guardian  
took on board Ryuu-oh."  
"What sword, I'm talking about Tenchi." Ranma said in  
puzzlement. "The guy I came here with." Ranma elaborated.   
"Ryouko brought us on board at the same time." Mention of the girl  
demon drew Ranma's attention to her absence as well. "Damn, that  
mummy has him I bet." She turned a fierce gaze on Ryo-oh-ki.   
"Where is she? Where's Ryouko? What's she done with Tenchi?"  
Ryo-oh-ki held up a hand to forestall the flood of questions.   
"Just a minute, accessing records." After a minute she lowered her  
hand and smiled at Ranma. "I'm sorry, I was not fully awake when I  
picked you up before, I was running on automatic, sort of like animal  
instinct. Tenchi, both the boy and the sword, and Ryouko have been  
captured by Yosho's sister, the princess Ayeka."  
"Yosho's sister!?" Ranma said incredulously. "I thought Yosho  
was a just a warrior. How could his sister still be alive? Was he  
really a god? I've heard lots of stories about gods marrying humans,  
but I thought those were just stories."  
Ryo-oh-ki smiled at her. "First, I think I had better clear up  
some things. It will make it easier for you to understand. Ryouko  
and I are not demons. Ryouko is a an alien, a space pirate, and I am  
her spaceship. Yosho was the crown prince of Jurai. He fought us  
because we raided Jurai and caused much damage. He chased us to  
Earth, and I and his ship both crashed. I was so badly damaged, I  
needed to create a clone, who is me. I learned later that Yosho  
fought Ryouko and imprisoned her in a cave."  
"And Tenchi let her loose." Ranma said, nodding her head.   
"Still, this Ayeka must be one old lady."  
"Juraians live for a very long time, and keep their youthful  
looks for most of their lives. Still, I would guess that if Ayeka has  
been pursuing us, she has kept herself in stasis. She might have  
been able to survive the years of searching, but the boredom would  
have been unbearable. She is more then likely still very young."  
"Are Tenchi and Ryouko alright?"  
"Ryouko is, . . . rather drained, but nothing she cannot  
withstand. Strange," Ryo-oh-ki mused, more to herself then to  
Ranma, "she has changed. . . She is not the Ryouko of my  
memories. That Ryouko I never wanted to meet. That is why I hid  
myself away when she called, and let my memories run the ship."   
"Tenchi I do not know about. I am linked to Ryouko, but not to  
him, and she has not seen him since she was taken to the ship."  
Seeing Ranma's worried expression, she hurriedly reassured her.   
"Do not worry, I think it very unlikely Ayeka would harm Tenchi.   
She has reason to be angry with Ryouko, but there is no reason I can  
think of that she might want to harm Tenchi. . ."  
Ryo-oh-ki broke off, and a large sweat drop formed on her  
forehead. "It would seem I spoke too soon. Tenchi has apparently  
angered the princess in some manner. She has just chased him into  
the area where Ryouko is being held. Oh my," Ryo-oh-ki said in a  
faint voice, "this is not good."  
"What, what?"   
Ryo-oh-ki swallowed nervously, "it seems she believes Tenchi  
tried to ravage her."  
"Tenchi!?!?" Ranma practically screamed. "You have got to be  
joking?"  
"I wish I was. This, is not good . . . wait." Ryo-oh-ki suddenly  
stiffened. "Brace yourself Ranma, we're going in."   
"Going in. going in where!?" Ranma yelled. She received no  
answer. As soon as Ryo-oh-ki had finished speaking, she had  
popped out of existence. Literally, as the air rushed in to fill the  
space she had just recently vacated with a loud bang. The deck  
under Ranma's feet shuddered, and she barely managed to keep her  
feet as with a tremendous crash, Ryu-oh-ki lurched upward, and  
though Ranma could not see it, drove one of her massive stabilizing  
spikes up through the bottom of Ryuu-oh. The sudden stop that  
followed after the rapid upward movement tossed Ranma off her feet,  
and before she could regain them, Tenchi and Ryouko appeared in  
the cabin.  
  
"We can't leave her up here Tenchi!" Ryouko shouted. "She'll  
never let us alone. I"m taking her down."  
"No! Ryouko you can't!" Tenchi shouted, grasping the girl's  
sleeve. Ranma gasped at the venom in the gaze Ryouko turned on  
Tenchi. So different from the way she usually looked at him. Even  
in the attack at the school there had not been that much . . . evil, in  
her look.  
"Whose side are you on!?" Ryouko yelled in anger, and maybe  
a little hurt. "If you want to be on their side so much, go back to  
them. I'm not stopping you." She turned her back on Tenchi and  
ordered, "Ryo-oh-ki, get moving. Now!!" The artificial gravity kept  
their orientation the same, but the stars in the view screen whirled  
around, and the image of Earth, which had been below them was  
blocked out by the massive form of Ryuu-oh. Tenchi turned to  
Ranma and yelled.   
"We have to stop her, she's gone crazy!"  
"Ranma," a soft voice said. Ranma turned, and found a small  
crystal floating beside her, the image of Ryo-ok-ki's face in it.   
"Don't worry, the girls will be fine."  
"What girls? What the hell is going on?" Ranma yelled   
Tenchi by this time had reached Ranma, grasping her by the  
shoulders to hold himself steady in the now shaking ship, he yelled  
in her face. "There are two girls on the other ship, Ryouko's going  
to kill them, she's gone crazy!!" He repeated.  
"No! She has not!" Turning toward the voice, Tenchi started.  
"Nani?" Tenchi said, staring at the furry face in the crystal.  
"That's Ryo-oh-ki, she's the other demon from the story, only  
she's not, she's the daughter of that demon, but she has all her  
memories, so they're the same person, only they're not." Ranma  
babbled in her hurry to get to the important stuff. Like, were they all  
going to die? She hated this, not having any control over her own  
destiny, having to place her life completely in some one else's hands.  
Tenchi looked blankly at Ranma, trying to figure out what she  
was talking about. Then giving up on that, he turned to the crystal  
and demanded. "How can you be sure of that? I can't just stand here  
and do nothing."  
"What can you do!?" Ryo-oh-ki snapped out. When Tenchi  
stepped back as if he had been slapped, she softened her tone. "I'm  
sorry, but there is nothing you can do here. Please, just trust me.   
The girls will be fine, and so will Ryouko. I can't explain, don't ask  
me to. Just, please, trust me." She looked at the both of them with  
wide brown eyes, moist with unshed tears. Tenchi melted, and  
though Ranma fought the mushy feeling, she too found it hard to  
deny those eyes.  
"All right," Tenchi said, "but if anything happens to them . . ."  
"Nothing will, on my honor." Ryo-oh-ki said in a soft voice.   
"Now, you and Ranma should brace yourself, it's going to be a  
bumpy ride." There was a deadly serious tone in her voice that left  
no time for anymore questions.  
Ranma and Tenchi looked at each other, then dove under the  
central consol, that being the only permanent fixture on the bridge.   
They linked arms, braced their legs against the overhead panel, and  
waited.  
  
Ryo-oh-ki watched them for a minute, then with a sigh, turned  
all her attention on controlling the upcoming crash. She had wanted  
to explain to them so badly, why this was happening, but it was a  
useless desire. How could she explain to two teenagers, what it felt  
like to have memories six hundred years old, that were as clear as  
the day they happened? How could she explain how much pain it  
caused, to one by one have all your loved ones ripped away from you  
by a foe neither they nor you could fight? A foe she would never  
have to face for as long as she was careful, and kept herself from  
damage.   
Human's were so frail, so short lived, they could not imagine  
the burden life could become to one who need never die. Her mind  
flashed back once again, the memories as clear as could be. There  
was her husband Toriki, so kind and gentle, the brother who had  
become her lover. Their children, Ryou-oh-ki so big and strong, so  
fierce and angry at times. Mich-oh-ki, who should have been named  
'why', for at times it had seemed like the only word she knew, and  
finally the baby, Ken-oh-ki, who had barely started to discover the  
wonders of life when he had been taken from her.   
The Shogun's warriors had not even been attacking them. A  
war with a neighbor had washed over their little village, and left  
death and destruction behind it.   
Oh, she had gotten her revenge. The dragon that burned the  
Shogun's castle to the ground was remembered to this day in the  
small village that had been built on its ruin. She had allowed the  
servants to evacuate, but the callous Shogun and his warriors had  
provided fuel for the fire. It was the first and last time she had taken  
up her Mother/Sister's ways. None of that did anything to eliminate  
the void her family's absence created however. Not even Ryou-oh-ki  
and Mich-oh-ki's surviving children could sooth her aching heart.   
She could not bear the thought of watching them grow old and die,  
as her husband and children had. So after burning the Shogun's  
castle to the ground, she had retreated to the lake created in her  
crash landing nearly one hundred and fifty years before. There she  
had rested, asleep and dreaming, till woken by Ryouko. That rest  
would be denied her now she knew. Ryouko would not allow her to  
sleep, to live in her dreams. Ryouko was a creature of action, and  
Ryo-oh-ki had no interest in that.  
That had left her with only one option. Which was why she  
had taken all the memories she possessed of the former Ryouko, and  
had distilled them down to their very essence. And when that vile  
concoction was seething and bubbling, she had shoved it down the  
link between her and Ryouko, driving the none too stable former  
pirate over the edge. It was but a shadow over her new personality,  
and it would not last long, but it would last long enough to put Ryo-  
oh-ki out of her misery. There was just one other thing to do.  
"Ranma?" She said in a soft voice, for the redhead's ears only.  
Ranma looked up from where she sat beside Tenchi under the  
central consol. She saw a small crystal hovering inches from her  
face. Taking her cue from Ryo-oh-ki, she spoke in a quiet voice. "Is  
everything alright? Nothing's happened to the girls has it?  
"No, they are fine. I just wanted to ask you something."   
"What?"  
"Would you help look after my daughter/sister, let her know the  
love I grew up with, but that my mother/sister never knew."  
"Huh, sure I guess, I'd be glad to help you raise her, long as  
I'm around anyway, long as Pop has this bee up his butt about me  
marrying Tenchi I guess. Don't know how much help I'll be though.   
I'm not good at that sort of stuff."  
"You'll do just fine. Thank you Ranma. Good-bye" With that  
her image faded from the crystal, and it moved to join the others  
circling the central consol.   
The floor started to jolt and bounce as the turbulence the two  
unbalanced ships were generating started to overcome the  
compensators. Ranma forgot the conversation in the more  
immediate need to keep from getting her brains bashed out. In the  
distance she could hear Ryouko laughing like a crazy woman, as  
Ryo-oh-ki headed for a crash landing in the ocean.  
  
  
Nodoka opened the door, and smiled at Ukyou, "Kuonji-san,  
you''re back. I have a surprise for you." Leading the puzzled girl to  
the dining room, she smiled at the small girl with the long black hair  
who was sitting there, then turned back to Ukyou and made the  
introductions.  
"Kuonji-san, I'd like you to meet the daughter of my husbands  
old friend Tendo Soun. She will be accompanying us. It appears  
you are not the only one needing to seek out my Husband and Son in  
the name of honor."   
Both girls looked at each other, Ukyou with an expression of  
surprise, and Akane with a look of distaste so strong, Ukyou was left  
wondering what she had ever done to the other girl.  
"'He's' coming with us?" Akane said, the distaste in her voice,  
making the expression in her eyes seem mild in comparison.  
"She is indeed."  
"She?" Akane's expression shifted to one of surprise. She  
looked intently at Ukyou, and then leaned back with a much less  
daunting expression. She seemed to be satisfied that Nodoka was  
correct as to Ukyou's gender, if her demeanor was anything to go by.  
"Well, that's much better, I was afraid I was going to have to spend  
two months with a 'boy'!" The amount of venom Akane managed to  
put in that one word caused Ukyou to arch an eyebrow in surprise.   
She began to wonder what Ranma had done to this girl. If it was as  
bad as Akane's attitude indicated, would the other girl be willing to  
allow Ukyou her vengeance first, before taking her own. Well, one  
way to find out.  
"If you don't like boys, why are you looking for Ranma?"  
The expression of distaste on Akane's face was, if anything,  
even more pronounced as she answered. "I have no idea. My father  
went into this big song of dance about how I had to find this Ranma,  
or the Tendo dojo would be doomed. I either had to go look for him,  
or Daddy would have killed himself."  
"He would have committed suicide?" Ukyou asked in shock.   
Even at her worst, she had never considered that option.  
Akane looked disgusted, "No, he would have died of  
dehydration." at Ukyou puzzled look, she said. "Let's just say that  
spending my summer vacation tramping around China was much  
more tempting then staying home and watching Daddy soak the  
floor. So, when do we leave? And where are we going?"  
Nodoka spoke up. "The last letter I had from my husband said  
that he and Ranma had one last destination, and that he would be  
going to your father's after they finished there."   
"Where was that?"  
"A place called Jusenkyo."  
  
  
Ranma sat on the roof top and stared out over the valley that  
was the new home of the Masaki house. The small lake that filled  
the middle of the valley, was currently filled itself with the wreckage  
of two spaceships. A tear trickled down her cheek as she gazed at  
the few small scraps that were all that were visible of Ryo-oh-ki's  
remains. She cursed herself for what had to be the twentieth time.   
"Baka, baka, baka!! She told you what creating a daughter/sister  
meant, why didn't you listen? You could have stopped her." Ranma  
had an ache in her gut, that for once had nothing to do with eating  
her Pop's cooking. She had never had any one close to her die  
before. She had only known Ryo-oh-ki for a few hours it was true,  
but she had connected with that strange creature. Even her Neko  
form had liked her. She knew that for a fact. Her Neko form was  
very picky about who's lap she fell asleep in. A fact that had no  
doubt saved Ranma a lot of embarrassment since she had acquired  
the Neko-ken, and even more so since she has also acquired her  
other curse. She shuddered at the thought of waking up to find that  
her other self had decided to cuddle up to some guy. She shook off  
the image that thought created.  
She was on the roof, instead of downstairs eating, for a very  
good reason. She wanted no one to see her acting like a girl. No  
one was going to understand why she was crying her eyes out over a  
hunk of glass getting smashed, least of all her father. She just could  
not bring herself to face the old man like this. He would say  
something, and Ranma would have to do something to prove she  
was not a wimp. Right now, she didn't care if she was a wimp or  
not. She only wanted to mourn her lost friend, not fight with her  
Pop.   
A motion near the lake drew her attention. Wiping her face  
with a sleeve, she looked at the small figure of a girl who was trying  
to prop up the giant disk that was all that remained of Ryuu-oh. Of  
course she had no hope, and the plank she was using soon slipped,  
and she landed on her hands and knees in the mud. As the massive  
disk gave a gurgle, and slowly sank into the lake, the faint sound of  
crying floated up to Ranma. A day ago she might have felt derision  
for some one crying over a hunk of broken wood. She no longer felt  
the least inclination to mock.  
  
Ayeka, first princess of Jurai, the flower of the empire, radiant  
sun of the imperial court, around whom all the courtiers and lesser  
nobles circled, knelt in the mud clutching a shattered plank in her  
arms and crying her eyes out. No one understood, not even Sasami  
understood, no one who was not bonded to a ship could understand.   
They all thought she mourned a piece of transportation. But a part  
of her had died with Ryuu-oh.   
"Here,' a voice said at her side.  
Blinking back tears, she turned and saw it was the wild woman  
from Ryo-oh-ki, the one that had mauled Kamidake. She was very  
nearly as grubby as Ayeka felt, and her eyes were red and puffy. She  
was holding out a grubby cloth to Ayeka.   
  
"For your face," Ranma said, then explained further. "You got  
mud on it. Ryo-oh-ki said you was a princess, guess you ain't used to  
having mud on your face, so here." Once again she offered the cloth  
to Ayeka.  
Ayeka normally would have sooner wiped her face with a  
handful of leaves, complete with bugs. Right now she could care less.   
She reached out and took the cloth from the red headed girl, and  
gave her a smile as she did her best to repair the damage mud and  
tears had caused to her face.   
"You're, Tenchi-sama's sister, are you not?"  
  
Ranma blinked, and took a moment to understand the question.   
So much had happened in the last few hours, she had completely  
forgotten the lie she and Tenchi had told Ryouko. She almost  
blurted out the truth, but then she paused. She had been looking for  
an out of this crazy idea of Pop's. This might be the wedge she  
needed. No reason to clear it up, she'd let it ride and see what came  
up.  
"Ya, I'm Tenchi's baby sister." She told the Princess.  
  
Ayeka winced at the other girl's crude speech, but let  
nothing show on her face. "I understand you have been raised by  
men all your life."  
Ranma blinked at this sudden change in topic. Still, she was  
not used to offering comfort, maybe this was how girls handled grief,  
by talking about something completely different, that had nothing to  
do with the matter at hand. "You could say that, Pop and I've been  
on the road for a long time, seems like forever sometimes."  
"Well, as your Aunt, I would consider it an honor if you would  
let me teach you those things that men can't seem to grasp."  
Ranma blinked again, her effort to offer a little comfort was  
taking off in a direction she was not sure she wanted to go. Not to  
mention she just seemed to have acquired an aunt. Her first  
inclination was to tell the older girl that she had not the slightest  
interest in learning the things guy's didn't know. Then she looked  
at the face of the girl in front of her, smiling through eyes puffy and  
red with crying, and did not have the heart to tell her she didn't need  
no help in how to be a girl. That being a girl was the last thing in  
the world she wanted to be. Instead she said, "Sure, that sounds fine,  
we'll do that sometime. You want to come inside? They're having  
something to eat, and I know I always feel better on an full belly."  
Ayeka smiled at the little barbarian if front of her and shoved  
herself to her feet. Her grief already receding a little as she started to  
contemplate the things that would have to be done to turn this little  
ragamuffin into a proper princess of Jurai. "I am feeling a little  
hungry. Will you lead the way."  
The two girls walked off toward the house. Ranma acutely  
aware of the eyes of the other girl on her back. She wondered if she  
might not have made a mistake, but dismissed the idea. After all,  
how could a puny little thing like the Princess make her do anything  
she didn't want to.  
  
  
Authors notes:  
Thanks to Sam Vilsmeier for his suggestion as to a name for the  
attack used by the Drowned girl in Ranma's dream.  
Ryuu ( Dragon ) Satsu Death/Kill/Elemination ) Ha ( Wave )   
  
Many thanks to my Pre-readers. They keep me in line, and readable,  
I hope.^_^;;  
Tzigane  
Wade Tritschler  
Jim Nutley,   
Green Eyes  
Eimii, and new to the crew  
LechLord who has no idea what he's letting himself in for.  
  
Till the next chapter.  
T.H. Tiger  
  
  
  



	3. Default Chapter Title

Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?  
Chapter five  
Girls just want to create Mayhem.  
  
What's going on.  
This is an alternative universe story.  
Ranma was trapped as a girl from her first dip in the  
Nanniichuan.  
  
Why? Read the earlier chapters. See below for some  
highlights.  
  
Unable to carry out his plan to engage Ranma to one of the  
Tendo girls, Genma recalled that he had once promised Nobuyuki  
Masaki that if he had a daughter, he would marry her to Nobuyuki's  
son Tenchi.   
  
Nodoka Saotome, along with Akane Tendo and Ukyou Kuonji  
are on their way to Jusenkyo in hopes of finding out what has  
happened to Ranma and Genma. At least Nodoka and Ukyou are.   
Akane just wants to get out of the house for the summer before her  
father sinks the place with his tears.   
  
When we last left Ranma, she had just survived a crash landing  
aboard the now defunct Ryo-oh-ki. And in a moment of weakness  
she has agreed to allow Princess Ayeka to teach her some of what it  
means to be a girl.  
On with the story.  
  
  
The old man stood at the top of the stairs that led down into the  
small mountain valley. Behind him, the graceful buildings of the  
shrine he tended gleamed in the early morning sunlight. He looked  
out over the valley, and then down at the small circular lake that  
filled its middle. Normally, other then by its shape, the peaceful  
valley gave no evidence of the cataclysmic event that had created it  
seven hundred years before. This morning was a marked exception.  
Masaki Katsuhito had seen every one of those seven hundred  
years. Not all in this location, or under the name he now wore. He  
had seen the valley when it was nothing more then a smoking crater,  
and he had seen life slowly fill it to brimming. Many of the stately  
old trees that grew on the valley slopes had been planted by him  
personally.   
Now like some shadow out of the past a vast wooden dome  
filled much of the lake. Even as he watched, it lurched and began to  
sink into the unexpectedly deep waters. Surrounding the slowly  
sinking disk were upthrust shards of black crystal. They sprouted  
like some jagged edged Stonehenge, placed there for who knew what  
reason. They too were slowly settling into the depth.   
A feeling of sorrow filled him as he took in those shards. He  
had never made himself known to Ryo-oh-ki back when she had  
lived out her life in the human village in the next valley over.   
However, he had taken pleasure in the joy she had found there.   
The family that had found the mysterious jewel that had  
hatched into a Kapa spirit had raised her as one of their own. There  
kindness had been rewarded by good fortune. The first food that  
Ryo-oh-ki tasted had been a noxious weed that had been choking the  
life from the villagers scant crops. That first taste had left her with  
an insatiable appetite for that particular plant. Soon the fields for  
miles around were bare of it. Proof positive that she had been a gift  
from the gods to the poor villagers, and she had led a sheltered and  
loved life from that point on. She had grown, assumed human form,  
and had married the boy who had been her brother. She had given  
birth to three children, and had seen two of them grow old enough to  
give her grandchildren.  
As Ryo-oh-ki had found joy in her life, that joy and  
contentment had flowed down the link she shared with Ryouko, and  
even in her spelled sleep, it had filled Ryouko with a longing for  
those emotions and feelings. When Ryo-oh-ki's life had turned bad,  
when despair had gripped her, sending her into a centuries long  
sleep to escape it, that too had been sent to Ryouko as well. Ryo-oh-  
ki's sleep had ended that particular torment, but not before it had  
affected her master profoundly. In her endless dreams, Ryouko had  
learned to dread that feeling, that loss.  
Katsuhito, had found shortly after sealing Ryouko away, that he  
had a link to her. It flowed from her, to the jewels in Tenchi-ken, to  
Funaho and then to him. No where near as strong as the link  
between Ryouko and Ryo-oh-ki, it was true, but still, it let him gauge  
her character. Which is why he had not set out to restrain her when  
he had discovered Tenchi had freed her. She was a far different  
creature then the one he had sealed up all those centuries ago. Just  
how different, he believed even she did not know yet.  
  
As these thoughts ran through his mind, his eyes, still sharp as  
an eagle's after all these years, picked out two feminine forms  
making their way toward the house that had sprouted over night in  
the valley. One of those figures he knew, even from this distance.   
The very shape of her was engraved on his heart. Ayeka, his sister,  
who he had never thought to see again, and who, with a little luck,  
would never know just who he was. He knew little Sasami was here  
as well, and he looked forward to seeing her. Even as Ryo-oh-ki had  
let Ryouko know of their presence in orbit, Funaho had let him know  
about Ryuu-oh's presence and who was on board it.   
Welcome as Ayeka, and Sasami's presence were, his eyes did  
not stay focused on Ayeka for long, his attention switched to her  
companion, a small girl with vivid red hair done up in a heavy braid  
that fell nearly to her waist. Something about her tweaked at his  
memory, but at this distance details were too vague to tell why.   
However, that was not what was making him stare so intently at her.   
She would be the fiance that Nobuyuki had told him about on  
the phone the other night. Saotome Ranma, the daughter of  
Nobuyuki's old friend Genma and his cousin Nodoka. That was the  
thing that made Katsuhito look very intently at the young girl.   
Fifteen years ago Nodoka had brought her infant child to the shrine  
to show it to the head of her family. She had stayed a week, and  
during that time Katsuhito had been drafted into babysitting duties  
on more then one occasion as Nodoka had visited with Tenchi's  
mother, who was also visiting at that time. Katsuhito had changed  
both babies, and Ranma was every bit as much a boy as Tenchi was.   
So who was this girl who called herself Saotome Ranma? He  
idly stroked his chin as he thought over the possibilities. Genma was  
a scoundrel, he knew that well, but he had a hard time believing that  
even he would try and pass off some child he had picked up as his  
daughter. Well, there was an easy way to settle the matter. He had  
Nodoka's number, a simple telephone call would go a long way to  
clearing this puzzle up. He turned and headed into the shrine.   
  
  
  
Down in the valley, the girl that was attracting so much of  
Katsuhito's attention, was trying to deal with some puzzles of her  
own. Ranma had been feeling uncharacteristically depressed, and a  
little unwell. She'd even cried, an action that filled her with disgust.   
Sure, a very nice person she had just met had died in the crash that  
now littered the nearby lake with refuse, but guys weren't supposed  
to cry, not even for stuff like that. That was one thing Genma had  
drilled into her constantly over the last ten years. To cry meant you  
were weak, and to be weak was to be a failure. It was a lesson  
Ranma had taken to heart long ago. So why was she feeling an  
itchiness in her eyes, and this enormous urge to bury her head in the  
Princess's shoulder and cry her eyes out? It was unmanly, that's  
what it was, and she'd not give in to it.  
She tried to drive the sadness she was feeling away. Things  
were looking up after all. She had discovered a way to at least  
temporarily wiggle out of this stupid engagement to Tenchi. Both  
Ryouko and Princess Ayeka thought she was Tenchi's sister. Now if  
she could just get to Tenchi and convince him what a good idea it  
was for her to continue the deception until they left, things would be  
great. After all, she told herself, surely he couldn't want to marry  
her! She had told him she was really a guy. Guys didn't marry  
guys, even if one of the guys looked like her.  
She was sure Tenchi could convince his father. Masaki-san  
seemed a nice enough guy, even if he stared at her rather a lot. Of  
course that left her Pop. She rubbed a closed fist in the palm of her  
other hand. She was rather looking forward to convincing Pop to go  
along with the idea.   
Buoyed up by the thought of doing violence to her father, her  
usual upbeat character was soon shoving the grief she had been  
feeling aside, forcing it down into her gut. Just like Pop always told  
her to do. Even if her stomach felt like she'd been punched there  
repeatedly in her last sparring session, she could at least think of  
other things now.  
She had just made a new friend, well, a maybe friend, and a  
rather cute one at that. Despite her mud spattered kimono, Princess  
Ayeka was every inch a lady. Normally that would have been a  
mark against her in Ranma's mind, but the way she carried herself,  
and the kimono she wore, reminded Ranma of someone, and that  
memory carried a warmth that was helping in the lifting of her  
spirits. She was not sure what it was, but that didn't really matter. It  
wasn't like she had friends by the dozens, and they'd been even  
harder to come by since she had become a girl.   
  
Most of her life she had been alone, her Pop hardly counting as  
company. The few friends she managed to meet were soon left  
behind on her everlasting training trip. She tried to think of how  
many there had been. After a moment of thought she was shocked to  
realize that she could think of just three that had made a real  
impression in her life. There had been the old lady who had  
comforted her when she first acquired the cat fist. Ranma had  
known her for a while when that had happened, and she had  
instinctively sought her out the first time she went cat. The old lady  
had comforted the frightened creature she had become, and had  
brought Ranma back to herself. Then she had held Ranma while  
Ranma had wailed out her fear and trauma in her arms. The old lady  
had not thought crying unmanly she recalled.   
Pop had moved them on shortly after he had caught the old  
lady telling Ranma that sometimes it was all right to let others see  
your feelings. Maybe because of the closeness she felt for the old  
lady, and from missing that closeness, she had quickly made another  
friend at the first opportunity.  
That had been Ukyou, the best friend she had ever had. They  
had played together for nearly three months that summer before Pop  
had moved them on. She remembered Ucchan running after them,  
and how hard it had been to keep the tears at bay, but she had  
managed, and her friend's last sight of her had been a smiling face,  
instead of some baby crying over something that could not be helped.   
  
She wondered what Ucchan would think of her now, hard to  
imagine him as a grown boy. All the boys she'd met since the  
change had been such jerks. She was sure Ucchan would not be like  
that, maybe . . . No! She pushed the thought aside. The last thing  
she wanted was for any of her old friends to see her like this, see  
what had happened to her. She shoved the memory of Ucchan from  
her mind. Even if she were to meet him again, she would not be able  
to tell him the truth. The memory of Ucchan's friendship was far  
too valuable to spoil by letting him find out she had turned into a  
freak.  
  
Her last friendship had not been as strong as the one with  
Ucchan. It hadn't really even been a true friendship. She had grown  
cautious of making close friends after Ukyou. Still, there had been  
something about him, something in his face, in the guarded way he  
behaved around others. She had felt that he might understand her.   
But, she'd blown it. She'd tried to use the same basic method she'd  
used so well on Ucchan. He was a lot different than Ucchan  
however, and he'd seen her behavior as a personal insult. She'd  
regretted not finding some other way of getting to know him when  
he had challenged her to a man to man duel. Maybe if she had let  
her guard down, he would never have felt the need to challenge her.   
Maybe if she hadn't been such a jerk, they could have been real  
friends instead of glorified sparing partners. They had never fought  
that last fight of course. Poor old Ryouga had gotten lost like usual .  
. .  
  
"Ryouga!!!" Ranma suddenly shouted out loud, her face a study  
of chagrin.  
"I beg your pardon Ranma-san?" Ayeka asked, startled by  
Ranma's outburst.  
"Damn, damn, damn. How could I be so f****** stupid?"  
Ranma cursed loudly and vigorously. Then she noticed Ayeka's  
shocked expression, and blushed, placing her left hand behind her  
head and rubbed her hair.. "Eh, sorry Ayeka-san, I just realized  
something, and it pissed me off that it took this long. I met this boy  
the other day, and I didn't remember him from when we went to  
school together. I just realized I told him my real name. I hope he  
doesn't think I'm me."  
Ayeka was still rather flustered at hearing a Jurain princess, no  
matter how backward her raising, using such language. She put that  
thought aside for the moment, time later for etiquette lessons. "This  
boy, did he make advances on you before? Are you afraid he'll come  
here? Should we warn your father and brother?"  
"Eh?" Ranma said, looking at Ayeka in bemusement, trying to  
figure out what she was going on about. Then it struck her, and she  
frowned angrily. "Hey, I don't need no one looking after me. It's  
just that I wasn't a . . ." Ranma paused, having almost said she  
wasn't a girl last time she met Ryouga. That would blow her sister  
story right here and now. That was no good. She finished rather  
lamely. "I wasn't looking like he remembered, and I didn't want  
him thinking I was strange or nothing."  
"Ahh," Ayeka said knowingly. It was obvious that Ranma did,  
despite appearances, give some thought to how she looked. Why else  
would she be concerned about what this boy might think of her  
current appearance? "Don't worry Ranma-chan. We will have you  
looking just like a proper young lady in no time. Just leave  
everything to me."  
Ranma was once again left wondering just what in the hell the  
princess was talking about, but she did not let it concern her. She  
had other worries. "Man oh man," she thought to herself, "I hope  
Ryouga didn't make me. I'd die of embarrassment if he knew what  
happened to me." She tried to reassure herself that there was no way  
Ryouga would know it was her, but still, the thought of an old  
acquaintance finding out about her condition, and maybe blabbing it  
all over town, or in Ryouga's case, all over Japan, filled her with  
dread. The only thing that made walking around like this bearable  
was that no one she knew was aware of it.  
  
"Oh, look. Kamidake and Asaka managed to recover my  
belongings from Ryuu-oh." Ayeka said suddenly, breaking into  
Ranma's train of thought. Ranma looked up and saw a stack of   
wooden cabinets scattered haphazardly across the grass that had  
been transported along with the house. Even as she watched, Tenchi  
came down the stairs from the house and picked one up with a grunt  
of effort. Then, accompanied by a young girl Ranma had not yet  
met, he returned to the house. As Tenchi walked into the house with  
his burden, two large floating logs maneuvered themselves into  
position of either side of a large stack of the dressers, and the bulky  
objects floated up in the air, supported by nothing Ranma could see.  
"Neat!" Ranma exclaimed, once again caught up in the wonder  
of being in the presence of aliens, and all that went with it. She was  
also glad that as a girl she did not have to feign disinterest, but could  
act in a manner she would be too embarrassed to do in her male  
body. She bounced over to have a closer look. One of the logs gave a  
sudden "eep" and disappeared into the house. The other log,  
unbalanced by the lose of whatever force his companion had been  
exerting toppled over, along with the wooden furniture, which  
scattered across the small patch of lawn.  
  
"What, what, what." A voice said from inside, and Nobuyuki  
came out on the deck, and looked over the disarray. "Tsk, tsk, tsk,"  
he said to the fallen Asaka, "you shouldn't try to take so much at one  
time. You might have damaged something."   
"It was not Asaka's fault." Ayeka explained. "I am afraid  
Kamidake had a rather unpleasant experience with your daughter,  
and is a little nervous around her. I'm sure he will get over it  
quickly once he gets to know her."  
"Daughter?" Nobuyuki said in puzzlement, but Genma, who  
had come out on the deck behind him laughed out loud. If Ranma  
had been less busy trying to signal his father to go along, she might  
have noted a slight tinge of hysteria in her fathers laugh.   
Despite Ranma's frantic hand signals, Genma said, "Ranma's  
my daughter, and Tenchi's fiancee." Ranma dropped her head and  
moaned.  
"Fiancee?" Ayeka said, a puzzled expression on her face. "I  
don't understand. She must be your daughter." She said to  
Nobuyuki. "She has the Jurain royal blood. Just like Tenchi."  
A sudden flare of light drew the attention of everyone on the  
deck before any explanations, or in Genma's case, lies, could be  
made. They all, with the exception of Ranma, who was glaring in  
anger at Genma, turned to look, and saw Ryouko standing there, her  
face twisted into a horrendous expression.   
"Fi-an-c-ee!" She stuttered out, her fist clenched and sparks  
forming a halo around her statically charged hair.   
Genma turned slightly pale. He had not taken being shot at,  
shrunken, kidnaped on an alien space craft, and then being crash  
landed in a lake well. About the only thing that had gone his way  
was that he had managed to evacuate the ship without getting wet.   
A situation Ranma now rectified with a pail of water she plucked off  
the deck.  
"You got a big mouth Pop. Why don't you keep it shut for a  
while?" Ranma yelled at him. She was furious that he had screwed  
up her plan to pass as Tenchi's sister. She watched in satisfaction as  
he changed form, and then dove in fists first.  
Ryouko paid not the slightest attention to Genma's  
transformation. Every bit of her attention was focused on Ranma's  
back. Sixteen years! She had watched Tenchi grow up for sixteen  
years. Now, just as she managed to get free, this, this, this mud  
covered, ragged, top heavy, little tramp came along to take him away  
from her. No goddamn way, not if she had anything to say about it.  
If Ryouko attention was fully focused on Ranma, Ayeka's was  
on the large Panda that had just joined their group. "Wha, wha,  
what?" She stuttered pointing at the transformed Genma. Then a  
shocked look crossed her face, and she looked from Genma to  
Ranma and back again, recalling he had called her daughter.   
"Shape shifter." She suddenly said, and her body language was  
suddenly saying the same thing that Ryouko's was. There was a  
shape shifter in the legends of Jurai, and those legends were not such  
as to give her a good opinion of the creatures.  
"So," she gritted out from between clenched teeth. "You  
thought to insinuate yourself into the royal family. Evil creature!   
Never! Never will I allow this to happen!" She reached with her  
right hand, and pulled the fingers on her left hand, then cursed a  
ladylike curse under her breath as nothing happened. Of course, her  
armor was still packed away in one of the dressers in front of her.   
She gritted her teeth in anger at herself. If she had taken the time to  
find it and dig it out before confronting Ryouko, none of this would  
have happened. She wouldn't be trapped on this backward dirt hole.   
She stalked over to the scattered dressers and began to ruthlessly dig  
through them, looking for the ring containing her Jurain battle  
armor.  
  
Meanwhile, Ranma was just getting into a nice rhythm with  
her father, landing two punched for every one he managed to block.   
Then she became aware of a hazard from another source. Ranma's  
danger sense was highly developed, so it was hard to say which of  
the minuscule clues tipped her off to the impending attack. It could  
have been the smell of charred wood from under Ryouko's feet, the  
crackle of lightning as it arced through her wildly waving hair, or  
maybe the smell of ozone as she concentrated and formed a globe of  
pulsing energy in her hand. Of course it could merely have been the,  
"NOW YOU DIE!!!" that Ryouko screamed out, just before  
launching the blast.  
Whatever subtle clue warned her, it gave Ranma time to spring  
up and do a handstand on her fathers shaggy head, leaving Genma  
fully exposed to the bolt of energy that blasted him off the porch and  
in a long trajectory toward the lake. Bereft of her support, Ranma  
did a somersault, and landed on her feet. She watched Genma  
splash down in the lake with every indication of satisfaction. Then  
with a grunt of effort, she twisted her body aside as Ryouko's energy  
sword passed through the space she had just occupied.   
"What's got your shorts in a twist!?" She yelled at the angry  
Ryouko, giving her a boot to the backside as her wild swing carried  
her past Ranma. Ranma's only answer was a concussion blast that  
she saw coming a mile away and easily dogged. Doing several  
multiple back flips, she moved away from the house, and toward the  
side of the valley, never taking her eyes of the furious demon girl.   
She didn't know what had set her off, but she had been hoping for a  
rematch, and she still had a pile of anger to burn off. So, all in all,  
she was perfectly happy to accommodate Ryouko's sudden need for a  
battle. Unrestricted by walls she was sure her greater speed would let  
her give a good account of herself. She felt not an ounce of fear.   
She never did in fights. The thought that she might lose was just not  
a part of her mental makeup.   
Drawing on the memory from her first fight she found it easy to  
dodge Ryouko's energy blasts. Ryouko had to focus for just a second  
before launching them, and that gave Ranma ample time to dodge,  
and to even use the shock wave, and debris to her advantage. She  
used her feet and hands to deflect the shattered pieces of rock toward  
Ryouko. They did Ryouko no harm, but they did inflame her even  
more, and gave Ranma even more of an advantage as Ryouko's  
anger made her careless.   
  
Tenchi had of course heard the explosions, as well as Ryouko's  
scream of anger. He came bursting out of the house, fully expecting  
to see Ryouko attacking the princess. He stopped in surprise when  
he got outside and Ryouko was nowhere to be seen and Ayeka was  
rummaging through her belongings throwing clothing and other  
things right and left as she looked for something.  
  
"Ayeka-san! What is happening, where is Ryouko?" Then  
taking a closer look at who was present he added. "Where is  
Ranma?"  
"You have been betrayed Tenchi-sama!" Ayeka yelled over her  
shoulder. "That girl you are engaged to is a shape shifter. She is not  
what she seems."  
Tenchi was surprised to hear this, first because he could not  
think how Ayeka could have been able to tell, and secondly, because  
Tenchi himself had not been entirely convinced that Ranma was  
really a boy under that very feminine body.  
"No, no, no! You are very much mistaken Miss." Nobuyuki  
broke in before Tenchi could say anything. He had watched enough  
anime, and read enough manga, to know what she feared. "Ranma's  
father is not a shape shifter, he is a shape shifted." Ayeka and  
Tenchi both gave him a blank look, and he explained further. "He  
does not change himself, he is changed by his curse. He had no  
control over it, and Ranma has no curse, she is merely a little  
confused. Sasami-chan, there is a kettle on the stove in the kitchen,  
could you go and get it please?" Nobuyuki asked the young girl who  
was standing beside Tenchi, a look of confusion of her face.   
"Yes," she answered, glad of something to do. She hurried into  
the kitchen, not wanting to miss any of what was turning out to be a  
marvelous entertainment. To think, just a day ago she had been  
bored out of her skull, and now she was here after a fierce battle in  
space. A crash landing on an alien planet, and out in the lake was a  
shape shifter right out of the legends. She had no idea what the hot  
water was for, but she felt that given recent events it had to be for  
something more interesting then making tea.  
  
By the time Sasami heated the water, and returned to the porch.   
A singed and soaking wet Panda was sitting there, cowering under  
the basilisk stare of her older sister.   
"Ah, thank you Sasami-chan." Nobuyuki said, taking the kettle  
from her. "You see," Nobuyuki said to Ayeka. "My old friend  
Genma is under a curse. When splashed with cold water, he turns  
into a panda. When splashed with hot . . ." Nobuyuki poured the  
water in the kettle over the shivering Panda. Sasami clapped in  
delight when the large black and white creature suddenly shimmered  
and turned back into a man in an old cotton gi. A man who yelled in  
pain.  
"It needn't be that hot Masaki." He said in a querulous voice.   
Nobuyuki ignored him, and instead addressed Ayeka "There,  
you see, that's not so bad, is it? He's not some sort of monster. He  
merely had the bad luck to fall into a cursed spring."  
Ayeka didn't look in the least mollified. "And his daughter?"  
she said in a grating tone. Once fooled, she would not so easily be  
tricked again.  
"Ah, well, that is a little more complicated." Nobuyuki said, he  
held up the kettle and shook  
it. "Good, enough for some nice tea. Why don't we all sit down and  
my friend can tell you about his poor daughter."  
Ayeka declined to be mollified. "That is all very well, but why  
did she scan as having the same ancestry as Tenchi."  
"That? Why that is a simple as can be, they are both descended  
from Yosho."  
"What?"  
"Yes, yes, you see, while grandfather up at the shrine, and  
Tenchi, are descended along the direct line, myself, and Ranma's  
mother, are descended through another branch. So you see, both  
Ranma and Tenchi have Yosho's blood in them. Now come, let my  
friend tell you about Ranma's problem."  
  
  
Meanwhile, Ranma was having a thoroughly good time. It had  
been months since she'd been able to go all out against her father, a  
few weeks after Jusenkyo, her speed had increased to the point where  
he just couldn't stand up to her. What she had lost in strength, had  
more then been made up for in speed and flexibility. Two weeks  
after the curse, she had mastered a Kata she had been trying to do for  
months, and had been unable to. Her male body just refused to bend  
that fast, or that far. She'd not even felt like she was trying when  
she'd done it the very first time in her female body. The problem  
was, she could no longer let herself go with her Pop. If she did, the  
fight was usually over in a minute or less. That was very frustrating  
to some one who was use to training at full throttle.  
Now however, she was facing an opponent who she did not  
have to hold back with in the slightest. Ryouko was enraged for  
some reason, and unlike the fight in the school, where Ranma had  
tried to be the aggressor, Ryouko was doing the attacking. This  
allowed Ranma to land several blows, which were ineffective, and to  
redirect her movements, which while not doing Ryouko much  
damage, caused very impressive collateral damage.   
She had just now dodged out of the enraged demon girl's way,  
using a shove from her hand to add a little speed to Ryouko's already  
rapid movement, and sending her face first into a large boulder,  
which shattered most satisfyingly.   
"Argggg!!" Ryouko screamed, bursting out of the ruble, her  
hair streaming almost vertical from the aura crackling around her.   
"Stand still you little bitch."   
"Sorry Granny, should I go a little slower? Would you like me  
to wait while you cut yourself a cane?" Ranma's voice floated down  
from where she was currently standing on a tree branch. Ryouko  
shimmered and reappeared floating on air beside the branch, with a  
cry of rage she brought her energy sword around and severed the foot  
thick limb with one blow. Then she blinked, and looked around for  
Ranma, who had disappeared between the time she had faded out on  
the ground, and reappeared in the air beside Ranma's perch.   
"Feeling creaky you old Mummy." Ranma's voice floated down  
from farther up the hill. Ryouko screamed in rage, and flew in a  
straight line toward that taunting voice, severing several moderate  
sized trees, and shattering two large ones. She burst out of the forest  
to see Ranma standing on the stone patio of the shrine.  
A lance of force flew from her hand and penetrated the stone  
where Ranma had been standing. From several feet away, Ranma  
ragged her. "Missed again! Damn, you're not a very good shot are  
you."  
"Good enough." Ryouko said with an evil chuckle in her voice.   
She grinned down at the smaller girl, who looked at her in  
puzzlement. Then a rumble filled the air, and the stone under  
Ranma exploded before she could escape. She was flung high into  
the air. Ranma rapidly oriented herself, but she knew she was in  
trouble, she could maneuver in the air almost as well as if she could  
fly. The problem was, Ryouko 'could' fly!   
"Gottcha," Ryouko cried in a triumphant voice as she managed  
to snag the front of Ranma's shirt. Ranma struggled futilely,  
leveling several powerful kick and blows at Ryouko, to no avail.   
Ryouko just took her best shots, and kept right on smiling, a very  
nasty smile Ranma noted with a sinking feeling. In one last  
desperation move, she pressed both feet against Ryouko, and pushed  
with all her might. There was a loud ripping sound, and Ranma was  
free, sans shirt, but free. She somersaulted to the ground, and  
shouted out.   
"Hey, that was my favorite shirt, you owe me."  
"Favorite shirt!!" Ryouko screamed. "You take Tenchi away  
from me, and you bitch about some shirt. I'll kill you!!"  
"What the hell are you talking about!" Ranma yelled as she  
dodged several force bolts. "I never took Tenchi from no one!"   
"You're his Fiancee aren't you!" Ryouko yelled as she slashed  
at the ducking, weaving girl with her sword.  
"Yea, so what."  
"So what!!! SO WHAT." Ryouko became a veritable tornado of  
slashes and blasts. Tears were running down her face. "Tenchi is  
mine! I'm the one who will show him the sweet secrets between a  
man and a woman. No one else. DO YOU HEAR ME!!"  
"Sweet secrets?" Ranma said in puzzlement, then she gagged  
as she deciphered Ryouko nearly incoherent shouting.  
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR F****** MIND?? THAT'S  
DISGUSTING! God, what sort of a pervert do you think I am?   
Sleep with a guy." Ranma made retching sounds.  
"Nani" Ryouko said, shocked enough by Ranma's outburst to  
stop her attack. She looked down at the little red head, who looked  
up her with an expression of total disgust. Suddenly her mind went  
back to the scene in Tenchi's bedroom.  
"OH ho," She murmured, "It's like that is it." She floated down  
till she was two feet from the ground, then floated toward Ranma,  
who fell into a defensive pose. Ryouko was not attacking however.   
Instead she stopped a few feet away from Ranma and bent over to  
look her in the eye. As her feet were still two feet off the ground,  
and she had mentally adjusted her top, this had the effect of  
demonstrating very explicitly to Ranma that she felt the same way  
Ranma did about bras. Ranma's eyes glazed slightly, and she  
blushed a deep red.  
"H mm mm, " Ryouko hummed, sounding very satisfied with  
herself. "Tell me Ranma, if you don't like Tenchi, why did you get  
engaged to him?"   
"It was our stupid father's idea!" Ranma cried, wrenching her  
eyes away from the soft mounds in front of her.  
"So you don't have any interest in doing this and that with  
him?" Ryouko purred in a seductive voice.  
"NO WAY!! Acchhh." Ranma let out a frantic squawk as  
Ryouko moved in closer and pulled her into a tight embrace. Her  
danger sense had not warned her in the least that Ryouko was about  
to attack. For a good reason.  
Ryouko held the struggling girl tight against her, making sure  
the hug pulled Ranma's face deep into her cleavage. She chuckled  
to herself as Ranma's body reacted to her embrace. What ever  
Ranma might say in protest, it was clear where her interest lay.   
Releasing Ranma she floated back from the other girl, who was  
flushed a deep red and was breathing heavily.   
Blowing a kiss at her, Ryouko said. "Sorry sweet, I'd love to  
stay, but I need to get back to Tenchi."  
Ranma watched her go, part of her relieved, part of her  
disappointed. Drawing a deep breath, she tried to bring her heart  
under control. "Geez, what was she doing? We're both girls."  
"And very healthy ones at that." A voice said from behind her.  
Ranma spun in place, and looked in surprise at the old man  
standing there. How had he managed to sneak up on her? Surely  
Ryouko hadn't rattled her that much? Then she became aware of her  
topless state and crossed her arms over her exposed chest. Even  
after three months, she still did not possess a natural modesty toward  
going topless, but bitter experience had taught her that it was  
inadvisable to go around that way in front of other guys, even old  
priests, as the one at the Cherry hill Temple had proven to her.  
"What do you want? Who are you?"  
"Masaki Katsuhito, but you may call me grandfather Ranma."  
"Hu, you know who I am?" Ranma said in surprise, but then  
the other part of that sentence registered. This must be Tenchi's  
grandfather, which meant . . .  
"No way, not you too. Listen up old man!" Ranma said with  
some heat. "I ain't marrying Tenchi, no matter what weird ass ideas  
our fathers have. You got that!"  
The old man held up his hands in a peace gesture. "Got it, got  
it." he said in a placating tone. "That is not what I meant in any  
case. Your Mother used to call me uncle, but I've gotten use to  
Grandfather, so I felt . . ."  
"You knew my mother!?" Ranma blurted out, her mind  
suddenly swamped with images. It had been so long since she'd  
thought of her mother. The images in her head were blurred and  
distorted. She only had a vague memory of the woman who had  
given her birth. She was incredibly tall for one thing. Towering  
over Ranma. Ranma mentally kicked herself, "Baka, of course she's  
tall. You were only what, Six? When did Pop take me away  
anyway? Ten years ago?" Ranma tried to focus on the image in his  
mind, and found that it kept getting mixed up with her memory of  
the princess. She finally placed the points of confusion. The way  
Ayeka carried herself, the way she dressed, that was how her mother  
had behaved.  
"Ranma, Ranma, wake up. Are you alright boy?"  
"Huh," Ranma said, coming out of her daze to see the old man  
peering into her eyes from inches away. "Yaaa, get away from me!"  
She shouted in surprise. She lashed out at the old man in surprise.   
To her amazement, her fist was stopped cold as it splatted into the  
old man's open palm.   
He grinned at her, and said, "Now, now, don't be like that. I  
didn't mean any harm. You just drifted off there for a minute boy. I  
was worried about you."  
"Well, don't do that." Ranma said rather weakly, still looking  
at her closed fist in puzzlement. In her surprise she'd thrown a full  
speed punch. No way should the old man have been able to stop it.   
Then she remembered what had started this. "You knew my  
mother?" Ranma repeated.  
"Indeed, she visited often when she was young, but the last time  
was many years ago when she brought you around to see me."  
"I don't remember that."  
"Well, you were very young, still in diapers as a matter of fact.   
You were a messy baby." Katsuhito chuckled in remembrance.   
"You could be clean one minute, and covered in jam or something  
else a second later. You spent so much time in the water. It's a  
wonder you didn't turn into a prune."  
Ranma put a hand behind her head and chuckled. "Ya, guess I  
haven't changed much. I still seem to need twice as many baths as  
anyone else I ever knew. . .Wait a second!" Ranma suddenly  
exclaimed. "You gave me baths?"  
"Yes."  
Ranma dropped her arms, and put her hands on her hips. She  
stared at the old man with a look of mistrust. "So, you notice  
anything strange about me you old fraud?"  
Katsuhito peered over his glasses at her for a second, then  
turned to walk toward the dojo. Over his shoulder he threw a parting  
comment. "The one on the left is a little bigger, but I don't think  
that's really strange."   
Ranma stared after his retreating back for a second, then a look  
of disgust crossed her face and she replaced her arms back over her  
chest and yelled. "That's not what I meant you old pervert!" Ranma  
muttered to herself. "The old fraud, no way did he change me as a  
kid. He'd know that I wasn't a . . ."  
"Come in and have some tea Ranma, there's a good boy."  
Katsuhito called from inside the Temple office.  
"Yea right." Ranma muttered, then a look of shock crossed her  
face. "Hey, you called me a boy! Are you blind or something old  
man."  
"Would you like some hot water before I make the tea Ranma?"  
was the reply.  
Ranma blinked at the open doorway, then said softly. "Hot  
water, why'd I want hot water . . . Unless . . .YOU KNOW!!!" She  
yelled, running across the stone paving blocks and into the office.   
She glared accusingly at Katsuhito. "You know about Jusenkyo!"   
She repeated.  
He looked up at her from where he was heating the water.  
"There are records, one of my ancestors visited that area of China  
about three hundred years ago." He held up the kettle, gesturing with  
it toward Ranma.  
"It won't do me any good." Ranma said in bitter tones. "I'm  
stuck like this. Hot water just gets me wet."  
Katsuhito raised an eyebrow. "Really, did you have a run in  
with the Musk?"  
"The Musk?"  
Katsuhito opened a large book on his desk, and gestured toward  
a picture in it. Coming closer Ranma saw a drawing of people that  
looked vaguely familiar. "Hey, those are the characters I saw at the  
cursed springs."  
Katsuhito nodded his head as if she was confirming something  
he already knew. "And did they splash you with some water."  
Ranma thought back, and remembered the water thrown in her  
face. "Yea, they did."  
"The Chiisuiton." Katsuhito said. "It is a magic bucket. Water  
from it freezes the victim in their cursed form."  
"What!!! Those bastards! You mean all this time I thought it  
was my fault, and it was theirs. And the guide, he knew, he was  
scared of something that day. He knew they were there. If you  
know, he had to have known. He should have told me the bastard."  
"Don't be so hard on him. I could be wrong, but I may know  
why he did what he did."  
Ranma snorted, "Yea, what could be a good enough reason for  
leaving me like this."  
"To keep you from becoming the bride of a Musk warrior."  
"Nani?"  
"That is what the Musk use the Chiisuiton for. They throw an  
animal into Nyanniichuan, douse the girl that comes out with it,  
then marry them."  
Ranma looked disgusted, then sick as the full implications hit  
him. "You mean. . . But I'm a guy!"  
"They would not care."  
"Well, I would have liked to have seen them try. I would have  
kicked their teeth down their throats."  
Katsuhito nodded as if agreeing with her, but then he said.  
"There is a legend that says the Musk once defeated a mighty  
dragon, and threw it into the spring to make a bride for their  
Emperor. Do you think yourself a greater fighter then that dragon?  
Or of the Tigers, or Bears they have used? I watched your fight.   
You are skilled, but you are only one, and it is said the Musk are  
very single minded. Could you have defeated their entire  
Kingdom?"  
"I sure as hell would have tried!" Ranma answered  
belligerently.  
"And that is why I think the guide did nothing. He must have  
known you would feel that way. Something else you must consider.  
Have you been pursued since then by any men who look like these?"  
"Not . . . men . . . not looking like that." Ranma said slowly.   
Katsuhito waited, but it became clear she was not going to add  
anything, so he continued.  
"There you have it. Keeping your secret from the Musk was a  
grave risk for the Guide. But keep it he must have, because they  
would have pursued you to the ends of the earth if they had known  
the truth."  
"I don't care, he should have told me!" Ranma yelled, tears  
suddenly springing forth in her eyes. "Damn it, I'm a guy, a guy.   
What the hell am I doing walking around with a pair of tits on my  
chest, and nothing between my . . ."  
"Yes, yes, but is it really so bad?"  
"So bad! So bad! Of course it's bad. Girls are weak. Girls are  
silly. They cry at the stupidest things."  
"Like Ryouko?"  
"Yes! No! That's not the same thing. She's a demon, not a  
girl, not a real girl."  
"Ah, ah, you seemed to think her a real girl outside there a  
moment ago." Ranma started to protest, but Katsuhito kept on going.   
"So, you've been feeling weak?"  
"No!"  
"Silly?"  
"No!"  
"Stupid?"  
"NO!!."  
"Oh, are you sure you've got a girl's body then?"  
"What the hell do you think these are old man?" Ranma cried,  
thrusting her bare chest forward for Katsuhito's examination.   
Katsuhito pushed his glasses up on his nose and peered at the  
offered anatomy. "Hmmm" he hummed, leaning in closer, then he  
leaned back and said. "Very nice."   
"Why you old . . .!" Ranma cried out. She threw a blazing fast  
fist at him, tying to put a little extra speed on it this time.   
"Ah, ah," Katsuhito said, catching Ranma's fist in his hand,  
and twisting so she crashed face first into the wall. "Just a little  
joke. Just a little joke."  
"Stupid old man." Ranma mumbled from her position against  
the wall, before she fell backward, her eyes clearly showing she was  
slightly stunned.  
"Really," Katsuhito said. " Stupid? Do you think I'm turning  
into a girl?" He felt his chest experimentally.  
"I'm not staying here for this. I'm going back to China to get  
the cure for this body."  
"Ranma." Katsuhito said, the light bantering tone gone from  
his voice. The serious way he said her name caused Ranma to stop,  
but she didn't turn around.   
"What is it now old man?"  
"Answer me truthfully. Could you beat me?"  
Ranma first instinct was to say, of course she could beat him,  
but then she thought of the way he had stopped both her attacks. Not  
the fact that he had stopped them, but how easily he had done it.   
How centered he'd remained. Truth be told she'd never seen anyone  
move like him. So she did what he said, she answered truthfully. "I  
don't know, maybe"  
Choosing his words carefully, Katsuhito said. "I don't know if  
I could beat the Musk by myself. Maybe I could. Maybe I could  
recover the Chiisuiton if I tried for it. But if I tried, and failed, the  
worst that would happen would be that they would kill me. But you .  
. ." Katsuhito let the implication sink in.  
Ranma winced, and her shoulders slumped.   
"Something else you must consider as well. The Chiisuiton is  
well known. The Musk have used it for generations. But always to  
lock, never to unlock. You might take all that risk, and then end up  
with something that was no good to you."  
"Then why the F*** did you tell me about the Chiisuiton?"   
"Because you deserved to know."  
Ranma turned and looked at him. "Just that?"  
Katsuhito shrugged. "Why else?"  
Ranma tried to get her mind around the concept. Had her Pop  
ever told her anything he didn't want her to know, just because she  
deserved to know. Slowly, thoughtfully, she walked back to  
Katsuhito and sat down. "So what do you suggest I do?"  
"You are young, and very, very good . . . for your age. If you  
are not good enough now to seek out the cure, you will be."  
"What cure? You just said the Chiisuiton was no good to me."  
"You were not listening. I said there was no mention of it  
being used in that manner. But think. If there is one device to lock.  
Might there not be one to unlock? If you become good enough, you  
will be able to take the Chiisuiton. The Musk value it highly, and if  
anyone knows a way to undo its effects, it will be them."  
"How can you know that? What if I'm never good enough!?"  
Ranma cried out in anger.  
"Would it be so bad, to stay as you are?"  
"Yes!!" Ranma said intensely. "I'm not a girl."  
"Yes I know, you're not weak, or silly, or stupid."  
Ranma winced, and admitted, "alright, maybe girls aren't so  
bad, but I'm still a guy inside. How can I be a girl? How could I  
marry a guy?"   
"Don't."  
"Nani?"  
"Don't marry a guy."  
"Yea, right, girls marry guys, that's the way it works in case  
you ain't noticed. . . I don't . . . want to spend my life alone. . . I'd  
like someday . . ."  
"Yes."  
Ranma threw up her hands in dismissal. "What's it matter. As  
long as I'm stuck like this . . . I mean it just couldn't work out, the  
thought of some guy, ugh. It's disgusting."  
"What about other girls?"  
"Nani? Don't be stupid, what am I suppose to do?" Ranma  
gestured at her most prominent current feature. "Strap these down?   
Don't you think the girl might get a little suspicious on our wedding  
night?" She finished sarcastically.   
Katsuhito pushed his eyeglasses back and stared at Ranma for a  
few minutes until she started to fidget under his intense gaze. At  
last he said. "Ranma, do you know what a lesbian is?"  
Ranma grimaced, remembering her taunt to Tenchi just a  
couple of days ago. "I don't know, it's something bad that's all I  
know."  
"How do you know it's something bad?"  
"When the guys got mad at me, that's what they'd call me."  
"Hmm, I suppose they would. But Ranma, a Lesbian is not a  
bad thing, it's a person, and not a bad person."  
"Really?" Ranma leaned forward in interest.  
"Ranma, did you know that some people like people of the  
same sex."  
"Well sure, I've had two guy friends, and I chummed around  
with a lot of other ones. Back when I was a guy that is. So what?"  
"Ah, that's not exactly what I meant. I meant love rather then  
like, as in the love a boy and girl feel for each other." Katsuhito  
watched as Ranma frowned, her forehead wrinkling as she tried to  
decipher his point. Just when he thought he was going to have to  
draw pictures, her faced cleared and she looked at him  
incredulously."  
"Nani? You mean . . .?"  
"Exactly."  
"That's disgusting!" Ranma said, her face twisting, then she  
winced as Katsuhito produced a bokken from nowhere and lightly  
rapped her over the head with it. "Ouch, what you'd do that for old  
man?"   
Katsuhito gave her a stern look, quite unlike his usual one of  
good humor. He placed the bokken in his lap, and said. "I told you  
Ranma, they are not bad, nor are they disgusting. They are the way  
they are. Whether they are good or bad is a matter of how they lead  
their lives, and how they treat others, just as it is for you and me.   
There is nothing disgusting about feeling honest love for another  
person, no matter if they are the same sex as you."  
Ranma rubbed the top of her head, and glared at Katsuhito.   
"So, you mean that there are guys, who like other guys? I still say . .  
."  
"And girls, that like other girls."  
"Yea right, and girls who like other . . ." Suddenly Ranma's  
eyes widened, and she looked at Katsuhito with a look of horror in  
her eyes, the whole disgusting conversation suddenly clicking into  
place. "No way, no way." She said. Then she sprang across the  
room at the seated Katsuhito, who was suddenly not there by the  
time she arrived. "NO F****** way," she screamed as she pounded  
her fist into the place he had been sitting. Following after the  
retreating Katsuhito, she lashed out with everything she had,  
punctuating each strike with a rejection of the point he had just  
made. "I'm not a girl damn it! I'm not a girl! I 'm a guy! A guy  
you son-of-a-bitch, not some pervert girl!"   
Ranma suddenly found her eyes flooding with tears, and the  
pain in her stomach was back ten fold, but she kept after Katsuhito,  
never wavering in her attack. Always he faded away from her best  
blows, never retaliating, just dodging.   
"How the f*** is he doing that?" Ranma muttered to herself,  
she wiped the tears free from her eyes, and pressed on. "Is he  
reading my moves?" She drew back, and tried to catch her breath.   
The fight with Ryouko had worn her out, and she was having trouble  
focusing past the pain in her stomach, and her usual calm in battle  
seemed to have deserted her, but she didn't care. She would wipe  
the floor with the old man. She'd make him take back what he was  
suggesting.   
For the last three months the only vestige of Ranma's manhood  
had been that she was still interested in girls. Even if she couldn't  
do anything about it, at least it proved she was still a guy down  
inside. Now this old pervert was telling her that she was a real girl.   
That the fact she still liked girls had nothing at all to do with her  
really being a boy. Well, he could take that idea and stuff it up his  
ass. Better still, she'd do it for him.  
Ranma's eyes suddenly glinted as she noted Katsuhito had  
gotten himself trapped between her and the wall. This was her  
chance. Calling up every ounce of energy she could muster, she  
lashed out. Forcing herself to move faster then she ever had before.   
For a second she thought she had him. Then her fist passed through  
his image, and she realized she had only managed to tag his  
afterimage as he jumped lightly over her fist. With a crash, her fist  
hit the wall, and passed through it. Ranma was temporarily pinned.   
If she tried to wrench her fist free, she risked cutting her arm to  
ribbons.   
That was when she felt the light tap on her head. She twisted  
her head around and saw Katsuhito standing there, his bokken over  
his shoulder. He gave her a smile and said. "Come, have some tea.   
Don't be mad. I'm sorry I made you angry."  
Ranma stared at him in stunned surprise, but then she felt her  
temper flaring and she was suddenly madder then she could ever  
remember being. Without a thought of the harm she might do  
herself, she wrenched her arm free, and brought nearly half the wall  
with it. There was blood running from a long scratch on her  
forearm, but she gave it no mind. She glared at Katsuhito, her chest  
rising and falling like a bellows. She wanted to smash him, beat him  
to a pulp. . . And she couldn't. She'd given it her best, she had  
nothing more. She wasn't good enough. Not to beat him, and not to  
acquire the cure she needed. Suddenly, to her horror, she heard  
herself give a little sob. She felt a larger one forming in her throat,  
and tears started rolling down her cheeks in large fat drops.   
"Damn you!" she said, her voice hoarse from suppressing the  
emotions in her chest. "I'M A GUY GODDAMIT!!" She screamed,  
then turning, she lunged through the hole she'd made in the wall.   
Ranma wanted nothing more then to get away from this place before  
she disgraced herself anymore. Wiping the tears from her face with  
her bloody forearm, she plunged into the undergrowth that  
surrounded the paved area of the Temple, and vanished from sight.   
  
Katsuhito watched her go. His calm face belying the raging  
lecture he was giving himself.  
"You bloody fool. After all that effort you put into preparing  
yourself to face her? What do you do? You're not talking to her five  
minute and you're acting like it was Xian Pu in front of you, instead  
of scared former boy who doesn't know what is happening to her."  
With a muffled curse, he turned and left the Temple, heading for the  
stairs. He had not wanted to face Ayeka and Sasami this early. He  
had wanted to give himself time to adjust to the concept, but he had  
to try and straighten this mess out. He owed her, both Ranma, his  
great, god knows how many times Grandson, and Xian Pu, his poor  
dead daughter, whose body Ranma was wearing.  
  
When Katsuhito had called Nodoka, he had gotten her neighbor  
instead. Apparently all of Nodoka's calls were being forwarded  
while she was out of the country. She was on her way to a place  
called Jusenkyo, to look into the disappearance of her Husband and  
Son. That name had sent shockwaves through him.   
His daughter Xian Pu had drowned there, fighting off some  
magical monster that had attacked the village. He had never been  
happy with that story, but knew he would never know the full details  
of what had happened to her. He had been away at the time, and two  
weeks later when he returned, she was already buried with full  
Amazon honors. Her name had already been bestowed on a newborn  
infant. Her name would live on as one of the famous. Like Pur-Fum  
, who had died holding a mountain pass against the Musk. Or Lo  
Xien, who had given her life to save a group of children from an  
insane wizard. Like them, there would always be a Xian Pu.  
  
Knowing that Ranma had been to Jusenkyo, it had not taken  
Katsuhito long to put two and two together. Something in the Jurain  
blood was beyond Jusenkyo's ability to duplicate. For years they had  
watched the Musk, but no woman born of Nyanniichuan had ever  
had Xian Pu's features, or more importantly, her abilities. But,  
when he had learned that Ranma had gone to Jusenkyo, combined  
that with Tenchi's new Fiancee, and had stirred in the vaguely  
familiar red head he had seen with Ayeka, he ended up with the  
conclusion that somehow Ranma's Jurain blood had enabled her to  
assume the body of Katsuhito's long dead daughter.   
Just as he had in regards to Ayeka and Sasami, he had prepared  
himself to meet her with a calm face, and a moderate behavior,  
giving nothing away. And he'd blown it. He'd been unable to keep  
himself distant from her, had slipped into behavior three hundred  
years old, and in doing so, he might have permanently scarred  
Ranma. He reached the stairs, and hurried down them. As he moved  
down the stairs, two at a time, a huddled ball of misery just off the  
stairs, hidden in the undergrowth watched him go.  
  
  
Ranma barely stifled the sobs that were racking her body as  
Katsuhito strode past. She had barely made it out of sight of the  
temple when all her efforts had failed, and she had fallen to the  
ground weeping as if her heart was breaking. The worse part of it  
was, she had no idea why. She had endured far worse insults with  
out shedding a single tear drop. She had lost fights before, met  
superior fighters, if not recently. It had never bothered her before.   
Not this way anyway. Always before she had been left with a grim  
determination to improve. So why was she crying like she was six  
years old again?   
Slowly, she rocked back and forth, her arms wrapped around  
her stomach, which felt like it was full of knots, and slowly, far too  
slowly for her peace of mind, she brought herself under control.   
Finally, with a last hiccup of a sob, she managed to stop the crying,  
if not the tears. It was at that point she started to berate herself.   
"Stupid fool." she muttered to herself. "The old guy told you  
more about your curse in five minutes then you found out in six  
weeks in China. And what do you do? You act like some sort of  
crazy person. Okay, so maybe he was full of shit about that pervert  
stuff, but he knew why I'm stuck like this. Shit, he could have just  
kept his mouth shut, that's what Pop would have done."   
Ranma stood up, wincing as her stomach protested. What was  
wrong with it anyway? She couldn't remember taking a hit there  
recently, not a bad enough one to be bothering her this much.  
Brushing through the low bushes that lined the stairs, she stepped  
out on the stone, and looked down toward the house. She could just  
barely make out Katsuhito as he made his way toward it. Her  
thoughts went back to what she'd noted as she had fought him. The  
absolute ease and control he'd shown as she had come at him with  
everything she had. Not for one instant did she think she'd pushed  
him anywhere near his upper limit.  
"F***," she swore. She had a feeling that if anyone could  
prepare her to meet the Musk, it was him. "Ah what's the use, I've  
blown it. He probably thinks I'm some sort of crybaby girl. How the  
hell am I going to get him to train me?" Ranma mulled this over as  
she walked down the stairs. She could just attack him again. She'd  
learn a lot that way, but he'd have no reason then to point out where  
she was going wrong. Or to show her anything more then he had to.   
He might also kick her out. It was his shrine after all. He probably  
had a lot of say in who lived here.   
Once, half an hour ago, that prospect would have delighted her.   
Now it was the last thing she wanted. His remarks about the result  
of failure had bothered her more then she liked to admit. The  
thought of being forced to marry some guy, and not having any  
choice in the matter. Ranma shuddered. That prospect had been  
the stuff of nightmares, and not just since Genma had come up with  
his scam to marry Ranma to Tenchi. Tenchi didn't frighten Ranma.   
Ranma was positive the two of them would work this out, but what  
the old guy had said about the Musk. . . Ranma would risk death  
happily, if there was a chance of a cure in it. But that . . . She shook  
her head, she had to think of someway of convincing the old man to  
help her. Shit, she didn't even know what this Chiisuiton looked  
like.  
"Damn, damn, damn!" She swore, as the only possible option  
became obvious. She was going to have to apologize to the old fart.   
Glumly she continued down the steps, not looking forward to the  
next fifteen minutes in the least.  
  
  
Down in the house, Tenchi was trying to keep Ryouko at bay,  
while keeping his attention on the Temple stairs. His Grandfather  
had just come down them, but there was no sign of Ranma. Once  
again fighting free of Ryouko's grip, he turned to her and said in an  
accusing tone. "You said you left Ranma with Grandfather, and that  
she was alright. Where is she then?"  
"Oh Tenchi, don't be like that. Don't you trust me?" Ryouko  
whined, trying to crawl kittenishly into his lap. Her efforts were met  
by a resounding lack of success. No doubt due to the fact that the  
boy who's lap she was currently trying to settle into was the same  
boy she had apparently been doing her best to kill not eighteen hours  
before, and who was not interested in the least in having her perched  
that close.  
Tenchi reached around behind his back and pulled out the  
Tenchi-ken. He thanked fortune that Ayeka had returned it to him.   
Of course she had slipped it to him in order that he could protect  
himself from the wicked shape shifter that had tried to ensnare him.   
However, it wasn't Ranma he needed protection from. He held the  
sword hilt between himself and Ryouko, who retreated a pace. "No.   
I don't trust you. You tried to kill Ranma. I want you to take me to  
her. I want to see her myself."  
"Ah Teennnccchhhiii." Ryouko softly wailed, "you're so mean  
to me."   
Katsuhito, reaching the house, took in the scene in front of  
him. "Tenchi, shame on you. You should not treat such a lovely lady  
so badly." he said.  
"But Grandfather . . ."  
"There, there, don't fret. I left Ranma up at the temple.   
Ryouko did her no harm."  
"See Tenchi, aren't you sorry you didn't trust me." Ryouko  
purred, taking advantage of the fact that Tench had turned her back  
on her, to wrap her arms around him neck and to blow into his ear.   
Tenchi blushed red, and tried to dislodge her, but she held tight.  
Katsuhito pushed his glasses up his nose, and asked. "Tenchi,  
why is there a Panda writing on a sign in the livingroom?"  
Tenchi craned his head about as best he could under the  
circumstances, and took in the scene in the living room. Genma was  
indeed a Panda again, and from the way Ayeka-san was scolding  
her, he guessed the likely reason was Sasami, who was not paying  
her older sister any mind, but was instead taking in the sight of a  
large furry panda with every evidence of delight.  
Tenchi finally managed to dislodge Ryouko, using the Tenchi-  
ken as a pry bar, and while she floated off a bit and sulked, he turned  
to his grandfather. Placing his hand behind his head, he said  
hesitantly. "It's a little hard to explain. That's Ranma's father."  
Then hurrying his words, before his Grandfather could have him  
committed, or wacked him over the head for telling tall tales, he  
continued on.   
"Hefellintoacursedspringinchinaandnoweverytimehegetswetheturnsi  
ntoaPanda." Tenchi took a deep breath. "And when he gets splashed  
with hot water, he changes back." Right on cue, Nobuyuki showed  
up with a fresh kettle of hot water, and Genma was soon returned to  
normal. To Tenchi's surprise, his Grandfather did not even blink.   
"Well," Katsuhito said. "It makes sense I suppose. If Ranma  
was at Jusenkyo, then Genma most likely was there as well."  
"You know about the cursed springs."   
"I had a chat with Ranma up at the temple." Katsuhito sighed,  
and looked up the hill toward the Temple. "Tenchi?"  
"Yes Grandfather."  
"Do you like Ranma?"  
Tenchi was a bit taken aback by the question. Ranma had  
arrived like a bomb in his life nearly two days before, and he'd spent  
all that time getting use to the concept of having a fiancee who  
insisted she was really a boy, not to mention dealing with demons,  
aliens, and space battles. Did he like Ranma? "Yessss." he said in  
considering tone of voice, "I think I do. She's very pretty, and has a  
lot of energy. She's a little reckless, but she came to my rescue when  
I hardly knew her. I like her a lot I guess."  
"Well, that's good. I 'm glad to hear it. But Tenchi . . ."  
Katsuhito turned to his grandson. "You will be a gentleman won't  
you. Don't try and take advantage of her, eh."  
"Grandad!" Tenchi said in shock, blushing red. "I"d never do  
that!" Besides he thought to himself, Ranma would kill him if he  
tried anything eechi. As long as that was the case, he was not likely  
to get too familiar with her. Then he started as something occurred  
to him. He looked at his Grandfather in surprise. Grandfather  
telling him not to be eechi, that wasn't like him at all. Katsuhito  
continued his out of character behavior with his next sentence.  
"Good, good. You're a good boy Tenchi. Just . . . Ranma  
needs a friend, and not a boyfriend right now. Just give her a little  
space. That's all I meant."  
"Sure Grandfather." Tenchi said, easily agreeing, as that  
matched his intentions anyway. He was impressed however, by the  
serious way Katsuhito was talking. His Grandfather usually took a  
much lighter tone. He was not as bad as Tenchi's father, when it  
came to being a hentai, but he had his moments. If Grandfather  
thought the matter was this important, Tenchi would be well advised  
to take it to heart. He vowed to be as good a friend as he could to  
Ranma.  
"Now, are you going to introduce me to these lovely young  
ladies." Katsuhito said, the serious look on his face gone, and a  
lecherous twinkle in his eye. Tenchi sighed. It had been too good to  
last. He just hoped he was not going to be embarrassed too badly.  
"This is Ryouko." Tenchi said. Gesturing at the floating girl,  
who was giving Katsuhito a skeptical look. She clearly didn't quite  
trust him. She gave him a short nod in acknowledgment of Tenchi's  
introduction.   
"Aaa, of course, but you've been our guest for many years my  
dear. My ancestors accounts of you do not do you justice." Ryouko  
scowled at being reminded of her imprisonment, and then smiled at  
the compliment, then scowled again as she started to wonder if it  
was an compliment. By then Katsuhito had proceeded into the  
living room, where they watched as the explanation regarding  
Genma's condition, and Ranma's behavior were coming to a close.  
"As I understand it." Ayeka was saying. "You fell into this  
pond."  
"Spring," Genma corrected her.  
"Whatever." Ayeka scowled at being interrupted. She clearly  
was not over her earlier reaction to Genma's shape shifting, and was  
nervously fingering a ring on her right forefinger. It was one Tenchi  
had not noticed before, and he assumed she must have just recently  
put it on. She went on with her summary of Genma's story.  
"This 'spring' somehow cursed you so that you change into that  
creature whenever you are splashed with cold water, but only into  
that creature, no other. Sasami-chan, stop doing that!" Ayeka  
chided her sister.   
"I'm sorry Oneechan. It's just so funny." Sasami said,  
lowering the water pitcher in her hand.   
*That is correct.* Genma Panda said, via the sign in his paw.  
"I'll make some more hot water." Nobuyuki said, leaving the  
room.  
Ayeka continued. "There is no cure, and you have no control  
other then the hot and cold water?"  
*That is correct*  
"Ranma is not cursed, she has a deep seated belief that she is  
really a boy?"  
*That is correct* Tenchi would have spoken out, but he felt a  
hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw his Grandfather shake his  
head. The meaning was clear. He did not want Tenchi to say  
anything. Tenchi did not understand, but decided to go along with  
his Grandfather, for now.  
"When your daughter learned of the nature of the springs, she  
used it as an excuse for the physical changes that were happening to  
her own body, and that she was having trouble dealing with. She  
decided that she had fallen into the spring of drowned girl, and her  
body was a cursed form, just like your creature form?"  
*That is correct* Genma turned the sign to reveal the other  
side, which said. *And it's a Panda, not a creature.*  
"Whatever. The proof of this, is that Ranma does not change,  
no matter what." Ayeka finished.  
*That is correct*  
"And you expect me to believe you?"  
*That is correct*  
"I think you are lying. I think you have afflicted that poor girl  
with her delusions, and you are a foul deceiving monster.  
*That is . . . * Genma hastily lowered the sign, and quickly  
created a new message.  
*Who? Me?*  
"That is correct." Ayeka said sarcastically. She stood, her hand  
lifting to the ring she had been fingering earlier. "And I'll prove it."  
Katsuhito finally intruded himself in the conversation. "That  
will not be necessary my dear. I can assure you that Jusenkyo does  
indeed exist."  
"And who are you!?" Ayeka snapped out, spinning in place to  
look at Katsuhito, upset at being interrupted at the climatic moment  
on her denouncement of this evil creature.   
"Oneechan!" Sasami said reprovingly.   
Ayeka suddenly flushed, and lowered her head in confusion.   
"I'm sorry." She said softly. "It's just that I was so shocked by his  
change. Shape shifters are evil creatures. The thought that one had  
wormed its way this close to my family. I'm afraid I forgot my  
place. I'm a guest. I'm sorry." She repeated. Drawing a breath, she  
looked up and met Katsuhito's gaze. The look of apology lasted for  
a second, then was replaced by one of puzzlement. "I'm sorry, do I  
know you?" She said.   
She stared intently at Katsuhito, who coughed into his hand,  
and turned his face away from her. "Oh, I don't think so." He said  
in a joking tone. "It's been years since I shot through space in my  
space ship."   
"Grandfather, don't tease her. She's a princess." Tenchi said  
reprovingly.  
"Ah. A princess you say. Then we are most honored indeed.   
Is this also a princess?" Katsuhito said, kneeling down to look  
Sasami in the eye.  
"Yes! I'm Sasami, and that's my sister Ayeka. Don't mind  
her, she's in a bad mood."  
"Sasami-chan!"  
"Well, it's true."  
"Sasami." Ayeka said, her tone quelling.  
"Oh, alright." Sasami muttered.  
Turning to Katsuhito, she said. "You said that you knew of this  
cursed place sir?"  
"That is correct." Katsuhito said in a wooden voice. Then  
giving a small smile he continued in a more normal tone. "It is in  
the Temple records."  
Just then Nobuyuki returned with the hot water, and restored  
Genma.  
Katsuhito looked at the thoroughly sodden figure in front of  
him. "Hello Genma. Long time no see."  
Genma looked at Katsuhito nervously. "Ah, do I, ah, know . .  
.you?"  
"I don't know if we ever met. I was at your wedding, but I  
don't believe we talked."  
Genma looked very relieved. "Oh, well, that's fine then. Nice  
to see you."  
"I called your wife just a little while ago."   
Genma froze, his eyes took on a haunted look. "No . . .Nodo. .  
.Nodoka. Ah, how, I mean, she was well?"  
"I don't know. She wasn't home."  
Genma nearly melted with relief, but he was premature in his  
reaction as Katsuhito continued. "I got her neighbor. She told me  
Nodoka has gone to Jusenkyo, looking for you and Ranma."  
Ayeka looked up at this. "So he was at that place!"  
Katsuhito looked over at her. "Indeed, according to Nodoka's  
neighbor, he was suppose to have been there about three to four  
months ago."  
Genma was not hearing any of this. One phrase kept going  
through his head. Nodoka was going to Jusenkyo, that meant she  
would meet the guide, and the guide would tell her, and she would  
know, and he was going to die. No. Get a hold of yourself Genma.   
Think man. Nodoka was going to find out. Nothing he could do  
about that, but he was safe here. She'd never expect him to hide  
here, in her own family as it were. Everything would be alright. He  
looked over to where Ayeka and Katsuhito were talking, focusing in  
on their conversation.  
"I left my number with Nodoka's neighbor. I also left a  
message. I told her to tell Nodoka that Ranma was here. She'll call  
as soon as she gets back I imagine."   
  
Genma picked up the half empty pitcher of water, and went  
Panda. The thought "I'm going to die. I'm going to die," ran  
through his head over and over again.   
  
"Looking good Pop." A sarcastic voice said from the doorway.   
Everyone in the room turned to look at Ranma, and with the  
exception of Ryouko and Katsuhito, they all gaped in shock. Ranma  
was a mess. She was still topless, her upper body was covered in  
scrapes and abrasions, blood smeared across most of it.. Her face  
was filthy, covered in dirt and blood, except for two clear tracks that  
had been cleaned by her tears. She ignored the stares she was  
receiving, and looked straight at Katsuhito. "May I talk to you alone  
Sensei?"   
Katsuhito nodded. "Of course." Turning to Nobuyuki, he said.   
"May we use your office?"  
Nobuyuki nodded, more in reflex then consciously, his face  
was still wearing a stunned, hit between the eyes, expression.   
Katsuhito gestured to Ranma to follow him, and he made his way  
toward the back of the house. Back straight, looking at no one,  
Ranma followed. Then, as she passed Ryouko, who was stretched  
out in a relaxed pose on the sofa, she turned and glared at her.   
Ryouko returned her glare with a leering smile. Ranma's gaze  
became even hotter, and she hissed out, "You pervert!" Then she  
turned and followed Katsuhito out of sight, a second later the sound  
of the door closing could be heard.   
Ryouko gave a snort, still looking in the direction that Ranma  
had disappeared . "Hmp, she has some nerve calling 'me' a pervert."  
Suddenly, a fizz, snap, followed by a constant low thrum filled the  
air. Ryouko jerked her head around, and saw that the Tenchi-ken,  
which Tenchi had been holding in his lap, had sprung to life. Under  
normal circumstances, Ryouko would have made a slightly lecherous  
comment, remarking on the blade's apparent point of origin. As a  
matter of fact, she started to do that very thing, but then the words  
caught in her throat as she lifted her eyes to meet Tenchi's. He was  
looking at her with a look of utter loathing. Lifting the sword, he  
pointed it at her. His mouth moved, but no words came out, it was  
as if he could find none to express what he was feeling. However, the  
look on his face, and the white knuckles on the hand holding the  
sword gave mute testimony to the feeling he could not voice.   
Ryouko took this all in, in a second, then a second flash of light  
out of the corner of her eye diverted he attention for a second. Just  
long enough to see the final stages of Princess Ayeka donning her  
Jurain battle armor. Again, under normal situations, her reaction to  
this would have been a smirk, and a feeling of 'Good. Exercise.' In  
this case however, the words did not even enter her mind. Ayeka's  
face was a feminine mirror of Tenchi's, which caused her to move  
her gaze back in his direction. He had stood, and was moving  
toward her, very nearly shaking with the emotion he was trying to  
contain.   
"Wh, wha, what? Tenchi? What?" Ryouko stammered out,  
unable to understand what had Tenchi so upset. The princess, she  
could understand, but what had she done to make Tenchi mad. As  
might be noted, Ryouko's skill at looking at events from other  
people's point of view was not highly developed.  
  
  
Ranma closed the door behind her, ignoring the sound of a  
large explosion, and the accompanying screams and shouts. All her  
attention was focused on Katsuhito, who was standing across the  
room, one hand resting on Nobuyuki's drafting table. She closed her  
eyes, and through gritted teeth started to say. "I'm sorry for being  
such an asshole up at the temple."  
She only got as far as "I'm sorry . . ." When Katsuhito  
interrupted her.  
"No."  
Ranma blinked, startled out of her carefully rehearsed speech.   
Then she flushed red, and was on the verge of giving Katsuhito hell  
for not letting her say she was sorry for giving him hell before. Then  
Katsuhito continued.  
"You have nothing to apologize for." A loud explosion rocked  
the room, and dust settled down of both residents, but they ignored  
it. "I spoke out of turn. It was not my place to speak so to you, not  
on such short notice." Katsuhito gave her a small bow. "I am sorry  
that I offended you."  
Ranma was shocked. Had anyone ever apologized to her  
before? She couldn't think of anyone off hand. "Ah," She hemmed,  
placing a hand behind her head as an aid to thinking. "That's  
alright." Then, getting into the concept, she added. "I shouldn't of  
ought to have gone over the top like that, even if you were being a  
pervert."   
Katsuhito smiled at her, his face shifting into a more relaxed  
expression. With a slight undertone of amusement, tinged with  
mock lechery, he said. "A poor old, lonely man, he has to find his  
pleasure where he can. A pretty young girl comes calling, it would  
be rude not to compliment her on her outstanding features." Here he  
leered at Ranma's still bare chest.   
Catching the tone of his statement, Ranma, relieved that this  
was going so well, and that she hadn't had to kiss ass, played along,  
returning the smile, she arched her back. "Well, they are  
outstanding, I have to give you that. Guess I can't fault you for  
honesty. Guess it'd be rude of me to deprive a senile, decrepit old  
pervert a little pleasure before he croaks." She held her pose, and  
grinned at Katsuhito, who tried hard to keep a straight face, but  
finally had to advert his eyes.   
Chuckling into a his moustache, he said. "I think things are  
going to be very interesting around here for a while." Which of  
course was when the wall fell in.  
  
"Raaaannnmmmmaaa!" A truly wretched and frightened  
Ryouko shot through the hole where the wall had been, and latched  
on to Ranma. Putting the smaller girl between her and the  
advancing Tenchi and Ayeka.   
"Leave her alone you monster woman. Have you not done  
enough to the poor girl already." Ayeka demanded. Tenchi stepped  
through the dust and debris, taking a heroic stance, he pointed the  
glowing sword in his hand in Ryouko's direction, and quickly  
clapped a hand to his nose as he got a good close look at Ranma's  
bare chest.  
"Ranma, Ranma, tell Tenchi I didn't touch you. Tell him's he  
wrong." Ryouko whined, her voice stricken at the thought of  
Tenchi's hatred. She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around  
Rama's legs. "Please, please Ranma." Turning her eyes up toward  
Ranma, she met Ranma startled maroon ones with her own slitted  
cat eyes.   
Ranma flinched from those disturbing orbs, but not before  
seeing the distress in them, or noting the heavy stream of tears  
flowing down her cheeks. Much as she enjoyed seeing Ryouko in  
this state, Ranma couldn't ignore the entreaty in those eyes.   
Sighing, she turned to Tenchi and Ayeka, who were both trying to  
move so as to get a clear shot at Ryouko. Tenchi still had one hand  
pinching his nose closed, and Ranma grinned at the image he  
projected. "Alright," she finally said. "Anyone want to tell me what   
the heck is going on?"  
  
  
It was several hours later that the pain in her belly returned to  
Ranma, pulling her out of a restless sleep. Giving a soft moan, she  
sat up in bed and clutched her gut.   
"Ranma?" A soft sleepy voice said from the side in a  
questioning tone. "Are you alright?"  
"It's alright Sasami, just something I ate probably." Ranma  
said to the young girl. She glanced over to where Sasami's sister  
was sleeping, and gave a sigh of relief when she noted the Princess  
was not stirring. After enduring a solid hour of Ayeka's sympathy  
and understanding earlier, she wasn't sure if she could take any  
more so soon. The Princess had been so roundabout in her remarks,  
phrasing things so delicately, it had taken Ranma nearly a half hour  
to understand what it was Ryouko was suppose to have done to her.   
It had taken nearly as long for Ranma's very loud denial that she had  
not been molested to be believed by Ayeka. Tenchi thank god, had  
believed her right away, and had shamefacedly apologized to  
Ryouko. She in turn had taken full advantage of his guilt to cuddle  
him, much to Tenchi's obvious distress.   
After giving some more quite assurances to a worried Sasami,  
Ranma left the room and made her way to the bathroom, hoping that  
emptying her belly from one end or the other would relieve the  
discomfort she was feeling.   
  
After Ranma left, Sasami found she had trouble getting back to  
sleep, so many exciting things had happened today, her mind was  
whirling with all the experiences and new people she had met. She  
had even met a shape shifter. Ayeka had forbidden her to go near  
him, but Sasami was sure her sister would recant. He was so soft  
and furry, he couldn't be an evil creature of the realm of darkness.   
As that thought was running through her mind, a blood curdling  
scream of feminine terror ripped through the house. Sasami  
screamed in sympathetic shock, and launched herself across the  
room toward her sister who sat bolt upright as the scream ripped her  
from her deep sleep.   
"Ayeka-oneechan, " She cried as she flung herself into Ayeka's  
lap. "It's Ranma, something is wrong with her, we have to help."  
Ayeka didn't need Sasami encouragement, throwing on her  
night dress, she ordered Sasami to stay in their room, and raced  
through the door, heading in the direction the cry had come from.   
"If that monster woman had touched her again, I will never forgive  
her!" She vowed to herself.  
Reaching the bathroom, Ayeka found Nobuyuki and Tenchi  
standing outside. Even as she arrived, the door opened, and a  
thoroughly flustered Panda appeared. Tenchi immediately  
demanded information. "What is it? Is Ranma alright? I'm going  
to see if she's . . ." Tenchi was cut off as a large furry arm blocked  
his access to the bathroom. His free hand held up a sign. *You do  
not want to go in there* Then he turned it. *Believe me!* Genma's  
fur bristled, and his eyes were clouded with agitation, something had  
very clearly disturbed him.  
Ayeka had long since discarded any belief that Ranma was a  
shape shifter, but she still did not trust Genma by a long shot.   
Hustling up, she demanded. "Why are you stopping Tenchi-sama  
from going to Ranma?" Inside the bathroom, a moan of despair  
could be heard. Reacting to that sound, Ayeka started for the door.   
"Well you won't stop me." She declared, and then was shocked when  
rather then stopping her, or even trying to. Genma opened the door,  
and pushed her in.  
  
Once in, she saw Ranma kneeling on the floor, her boxers  
around her ankles. She was staring in shock at a hand she held in  
front of her, a hand that dripped with red. Ayeka took a step toward  
her, and then paused, shocked. "Surely not?" she thought to herself,  
Ranma was too old, for this to be her first time. Wasn't she?  
  
Outside in the hall, all was silent. The three males looked at  
the door with varied expressions. Genma's was reminiscent of  
someone expecting a bomb to go off at anytime. Sasami hurried up  
just as the door opened and Ayeka stuck her head out.  
"Oh, good, Sasami-chan," she said, ignoring the fact that her  
young sister had once again ignored her orders, "would you go back  
to our room. In the dresser that use to stand beside my bed, in the  
bottom drawer, there is a small pink bag. You know the one? Good.   
Get that and bring it will you please." A look of comprehension  
donned on Sasami's face, and she hurried off on her errand.   
"Ayeak-sama? Is Ranma going to be alright?" Tenchi asked in  
a worried tone.  
"Ranma-chan will be fine Tenchi." Ayeka answered. "You  
need not worry, it is nothing serious. Please, won't you and your  
father go back to bed. I'll make sure Ranma is well. Not you!"  
Ayeka suddenly snapped out, as Genma started to follow after  
Tenchi and Nobuyuki. "Perhaps you could explain how it is that  
your daughter has not been taught one of the most important things a  
young girl should know! Do you have any idea what you have done  
to her?" The cold in Ayeka's voice slashed Genma like a knife. He  
tried to write on his sign, but Ayeka gave a disgusted snort, and went  
back in the bathroom. In her haste she left the door open a crack,  
and Genma moved in closer. He heard Ranma ask in a disgustingly  
weak and quavery voice.  
"Ayeka-san, am I, am I dying?"  
Ayeka gave a light laugh. "Don't be silly Ranma. What is  
happening to you is perfectly normal. You are a bit old it is true for  
this to be your first time, but then you are very active, and I have  
heard that hard exercise can delay it."  
"What is it? What's wrong with me?" Ranma asked, her voice  
sightly steadier as a result of Ayeka's assurance.  
"It's very simple Ranma, I'll explain it in detail to you later,  
but think of it like this. It's something to be very happy about."  
"Happy? Happy? About bleeding like this?"  
"Yes. You should be very happy. Your body is telling you that  
it is ready to make babies. What could be happier then that?"  
  
Genma very nearly made it to the forest lining the side of the  
valley before Ranma caught him. Ayeka held a hand to her mouth in  
shock as the sounds of a Panda crying out in agony floated across the  
small lake.   
"Ayeka-oneechan, here's the box you wanted."  
Ayeka took the container from Sasami, then pulling up a chair  
she sat down. Then, as another cry echoed through the night, she  
turned to her sister she said. "You might as well go to bed Sasami, I  
could be here for awhile."  
  
  
comment or death threats accepted, Comments being the more  
welcome.  
Many thanks to my various pre-readers, who gentle ways with the  
cattle prods keep me motivated.  
And a special thanks to Wade Tritschler. If it were not for him, it is  
very unlikely I would be able to write with even as little ability as I  
do.   
So now you know who to blame.^_^  
Please check out Wade's home page at  
http://www.mala.bc.ca/~tritscwa   
He has some very good stories there.  
  
Next Chapter: Join us for.  
  
Happy birthday, Ryo-oh-ki  
  
"Oneechan, why is Ranma-oneechan acting that way?"  
"Meow!"  
  
  



	4. Default Chapter Title

---------------------------------------------------------------------  
Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?  
Chapter Six  
Happy birthday, Ryo-oh-ki  
  
What's going on?  
This is an alternative universe story.  
Ranma was trapped as a girl from her first dip in the  
Nanniichuan.  
  
Why? Read the earlier chapters. See below for some  
highlights.  
  
Previous chapters can be found at these fine locations.  
All of these sites have many other fine stories, check them out,  
even if  
you have all my material.  
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/  
http://members.xoom.com/gensao/  
http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/thunder/181/ccc.html  
http://home.one.net/~gorlando/Anime/index.html  
  
  
  
Unable to carry out his plan to engage Ranma to one of the  
Tendo girls, Genma recalled that he had once promised  
Nobuyuki Masaki that if he had a daughter, he would marry her  
to Nobuyuki's son Tenchi. Well, as it so happens, he's recently  
acquired a daughter.  
  
When we last left Ranma, she was busy thanking her father for  
giving her the opportunity to experienced all the perks of  
womanhood.  
He survived. I know, disappointing, but life is that way  
sometimes.  
T.H. Tiger  
schell@interlog.com  
  
It was a large white pillow, stuffed with something heavy.  
Ranma knew this, because it was currently resting squarely on her  
belly, how it got there, she had no idea. Who was likely responsible  
for putting it there was another matter entirely. She had no idea how  
he had managed it, but it had to have been her old man. No one else  
would do something this dumb. Why had he done it? That was  
another unknown. Some sort of crazy training exercise she figured.  
All she knew for sure, was that it was heavy as hell, and that no  
matter how hard she tried to shove it off, she couldn't move it. She  
was beginning to fear the old fart had glued it in place somehow.  
Not that she was giving up, just as she had already done  
numerous times since waking up to find this thing on top of her,  
Ranma pressed her hands against the strangely warm pillow, and  
shoved. Her hands sank a little ways into the pillow, but that was  
the only effect. Then, something twitched under the smooth warm  
surface, and Ranma jerked her hands away as if they had been  
burned.  
"What the hell? There's something alive in there," she said in  
surprise. Then, a look of horror crossed her face. "Oh no, not even  
Pop would do that, it can't be a, a . . ." Ranma could not bring  
herself to say the word, instead an image formed in her mind, a fur-  
covered nightmare, all teeth and sharp claws. With a shudder, she  
pulled her mind back from that thought. "Goddamn it!" Ranma  
cursed to herself. "Old man! Get your butt in here and get this  
f****** thing of off me!" She screamed out, trying to keep the edge  
of panic out of her voice.  
There was no answer from Genma, which was not surprising.  
Her old man was never there when you wanted him. What was  
surprising was that she got no answer from anyone, even though she  
was sharing her bedroom with two other people. Ranma looked  
around, and for the first time realized she was alone. The spaces  
that should have been occupied by a sleeping Sasami and Ayeka  
were empty. Not even their bedding was present. Worried, Ranma  
took a closer look at the room she shared with the two other girls.  
Her eyes widened in shock when she realized that not just Ayeka's  
futon, but all the princess's various cabinets and dressers were  
missing as well. She couldn't even see the walls of the room. They  
seemed lost in a faint mist. "What the hell is going on here?" She  
murmured to herself.  
A soft noise attracted her attention, and she swivelled her head  
to look for the source of it. "Tenchi!" She cried out on spying the  
familiar form on her iinazuke back among the shadows, just  
emerging from the mist that hid the walls of her room. Ranma  
fought back the uneasiness she'd been feeling toward him for the last  
few days, and put on a cheery expression. "Boy am I glad to see you.  
Come and give me a hand getting this stupid thing off. I don't know  
what the old man was thinking . . . "  
Ranma's voice trailed off as Tenchi stepped fully out of the  
shadows. There was something new on his face. He had a  
mustache. It looked a bit like the soup strainer Tenchi's father wore.  
On Tenchi's face it looked totally out of place. More than that, as  
Tenchi got closer, Ranma could see the string running from the edge  
of the thing, up behind his ears. She gave a weak chuckle. "Very  
funny, ha, ha. Now, would you get this thing the f*** off of me!"  
Tenchi said nothing, instead he knelt down beside her and held  
out a hand to Ranma. Grumbling, she reached out and took it,  
expecting him to try and pull her to her feet. Instead, he clasped it  
gently, and looked down at her, a funny expression on his face. She  
found herself staring into his liquid brown eyes, there was an  
expression there that made her very nervous. "Wha, what the hell  
are you doing Tenchi?" She stammered out in confusion.  
Again, Tenchi did not answer. Instead, music swelled the in  
the air. Coming from no source Ranma could identify. Then, before  
Ranma's horrified gaze, Tenchi produced a karaoke microphone.  
Smiling gently down at her, Tenchi lifted the microphone to his lips,  
and began to sing.  
%Having my baby%  
%What a wonderful way to say how much you love me%  
%Having my baby%  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" Ranma  
screamed, shooting upright on her futon, and sending her sheets  
flying across the room. She stared in wide eyed horror all around  
her. Sweat running down her face. With relief she saw that the  
room was back to normal. All of Ayeka's baggage, and the figures  
of her two roommates, were back where they belonged. She slumped  
down and drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms  
tightly around them. She rocked back and forth, her lungs pumping  
like bellows as she tried to bring herself under control.  
"Ranma-san, are you all right." A quiet voice asked, and  
Ranma looked over to where Ayeka had lifted herself up to look at  
her.  
"Ranma-neechan, what's wrong?" Ranma turned to see that  
Sasami had woken as well. She rubbed her eyes with her fists, and  
then blinked blearily at Ranma.  
"It's alright Sasami-chan. It was just a bad dream. I'm sorry I  
woke you, just go back to sleep."  
Sasami nodded her head, and then it slumped back down. She  
had never really woken, and as a result, she slipped back into sleep  
easily. Ayeka was not so easily put off.  
"Do you want to talk about it, Ranma-chan?"  
Ranma winced at both the term chan, and the request to share.  
She couldn't bring herself to tell Ayeka how much she hated being  
called chan, and she most definitely was not ready to share this  
nightmare with her. What she had already had to share with Ayeka  
was humiliating enough, without having to discuss her weird ass  
dreams on top of it. Stupid old man, she thought to herself, this  
would never have happened if you hadn't made me work in that  
karaoke bar for two weeks.  
"That's alright Ayeka-san. It was probably something I ate."  
The expression on Ayeka's face showed she did not buy this for  
a second, but rather than pushing the matter, she just said. "You  
should try to get some sleep if you can Ranma-chan, it's still very  
early."  
Once again Ranma winced, then gave a sigh of resignation. It  
looked like she was just going to have to learn to live with it. Just so  
long as no guy called her that. Ranma looked out the window at the  
early morning darkness, and shook her head in answer to Ayeka's  
question.  
"No. It's been too long since I did any morning training. What  
with the old man having to go off to work first thing in the morning  
and all, I've been slacking off. Say what you will about the old fart.  
He does take training seriously. Even if it's me that usually does  
most of the sweating. Heck, even when he came up with the cash to  
let us stay in a hotel or inn, he'd pay in advance so we could leave  
before anyone else got up, and make an early start at it. Besides,  
Grandfather said I could start training with Tenchi and him today. I  
want to work the kinks out before then. Don't want to look bad on  
my first day. You go back to sleep. I'm going to get up."  
Ranma got up and pulled open one drawer in Ayeka's  
collection of dressers. Inside was every piece of clothing she owned.  
It was a smaller gathering than the week before. The outfit she had  
been wearing when she fought with Ryouko and Katsuhito had been  
pretty much trashed. Sasami had tried her best, but it was beyond  
salvage, even by Ranma's rather lax standards. What was left in the  
drawer were two outfits. A pair of black pants, a yellow shirt, and a  
mao suit, complete with cap. For underwear she had two pairs of  
boxers, and a pair of T-shirts. Ranma adverted her eyes from the  
last items in the drawer, refusing to look at the three pairs of panties.  
It would be another three weeks before she would have to worry  
about wearing them again.  
Ranma sighed, It looked like she'd be doing washing every day  
from now on. At least she had an automatic washing machine,  
which was a big improvement over washing them in a stream.  
Of course in the wild, she'd gone weeks without changing, but  
once she got back in civilization, she found she disliked the looks  
and sniffs she got if she let herself get too ripe. Making her  
selection, she pulled out the yellow shirt and black pants, and put  
them on. The Mao outfit was a top notch food scamming outfit, she  
looked cute as a button in it, or so all the guys claimed while offering  
her food. No point in messing it up, no telling when she might need  
it again. The yellow shirt and black pants were much better for  
working out anyway.  
  
Ayeka watched as Ranma left the room, a pensive look on her  
face. Her feelings toward the other girl were mixed at best. In many  
ways Ranma was an uncouth barbarian, but she could hardly be held  
to blame for that. Not considering who her father was, and how he  
had raised her.  
Her . . . that was another thing, Ranma's gender. Ranma  
insisted she had been born a boy, while her father was just as  
adamant that she had been born a girl, and was delusional. There  
was no question as to whom Ayeka trusted, but . . . there was no  
getting around the fact that Ranma did not change gender the way  
her father changed species. She hated to think for an instant Genma  
might not be lying, but what was she to think. It was not exactly  
something she had any experience with.  
That left Ayeka with a problem. Ranma was a member of her  
family, a younger member at that. Her father was a joke, not fit to  
raise a dog, let alone a child. It was Ayeka's responsibility as her  
aunt to see that Ranma was taught what she needed to know, but  
what did she need to know? While Jurai was very equal handed in  
its treatment of the sexes, there was still a difference in how they  
were expected to behave. Ranma's inner self may or may not have  
been male, but her outer self was 100 percent female.  
Ayeka sighed, and then just as she had for the last three  
mornings, realized there was no choice. Whatever she may have  
been, Ranma was now female, and she would have to be taught what  
that meant. Especially as she was ignorant of even the most basic  
knowledge of what it meant to be female, let alone a princess of the  
mightiest empire in space.  
Ayeka's expression brightened suddenly as she remembered  
that today was the day Nobuyuki would pick up the purchases they  
had discussed three days ago, and which he had ordered for her the  
day after. That thought caused a large smile to cross her face. She  
lay back, and started making plans, and constructing her arguments.  
Tonight she would finally be able to start remaking Ranma into the  
princess she was born to be.  
  
Unaware of the dire fate awaiting her, Ranma stepped out into  
the gloom of the very early morning onto the dew-damp grass and  
drew a deep breath of morning air. Down the road away, she could  
see her father and Mr. Masaki trudging off to the bus stop. Genma  
looking like a gray ball in his new suit. Ranma grinned to herself.  
Pop had sure got more than he bargained for when he had brought  
them to the Masakis'. Having to get up at four every morning to  
catch the bus in time to get to work, and then not getting home till  
late every night. Having to wear a suit and tie, even though he was  
only going to be sweeping hallways. It was too bad he got to change  
into coveralls at work. Still, it was nice to see some of the bad luck  
falling on him, instead of on her for a change.  
As Ranma began her morning workout, she idly wondered how  
much longer her father would be able to put up with actually having  
to work for a living. She gave him another week, two at the most,  
then he'd be packing his bags, and they'd be leaving in the middle of  
the night.  
Ranma suddenly paused in the middle of her warm up  
stretches. "Damn it." She muttered to herself. "I can't let the old  
fart drag me away." She kicked herself for forgetting that the only  
real hope she had yet to find of restoring her manhood was living on  
top of the hill. Grandfather had promised to train her to face the  
Musk. Ranma had a good eye for skill, and her newly discovered  
relative was quite simply the best she had ever seen. Added to that  
was Ryouko. While the demon girl had little skill as far as Ranma  
was concerned, she was an excellent brawler, and her power level  
more than made up for what she lacked in style.  
Ranma resumed her stretching, and winced slightly when her  
muscles protested. As if in a silent reminder of just how much  
Ryouko's strength made a difference. Ranma had been lax in  
working them after her bout with Ryouko, and she was paying the  
price for that now. She ignored the soreness, and worked on getting  
her muscles and tendons loose and warm for her workout. As she  
did so, she went back to thinking about the likelihood of Pop trying  
to drag them away.  
It was pretty much a sure thing. Ranma had a hunch things  
were not working out nearly the way her Pop had expected. Having  
a regular job was not something Genma Saotome was fond of.  
Having to commute two hours each way, every day, made it that  
much worse. Then, just to make for a perfect day, he had to come  
home to face Ayeka. Ranma chuckled to herself. Ayeka had little  
respect for the old man, and did not hide that fact. Ranma had a  
hunch that the only reason Pop was not char broiled was because  
Ayeka was too much of a lady to fry another guest in a home where  
she was staying.  
Ranma had witnessed a few 'discussions' between Ryouko and  
Ayeka, and despite Ayeka's mild exterior there was not a drop of  
backdown in her whole body. That was something Ranma could  
respect. It was too bad she didn't put Pop into the same class as  
Ryouko, as an intruder rather then a guest, but, she did, so there was  
no help for it. On the plus side, her Pop had also witnessed one of  
these 'discussions', which might explain why he went a little pale  
whenever he saw Ayeka heading toward him with that look in her  
eye. So far it had only resulted in lectures, but Ranma lived in hope.  
Well, it didn't matter what her Pop wanted. She was not going  
to leave. He could just stew in his own juices this time. Ranma had  
no intention of leaving until she had learned enough to regain her  
manhood. It was the old mans own fault. Engaging her to Tenchi  
like that . . .  
The engagement. Ranma grimaced as she remembered that.  
She finished her stretches and started a basic Kata. She agreed to it  
initially because she was sure her father was about to rip his belly  
open with a knife. Looking back, she was sure she'd been rooked  
somehow. Later, she'd treated it like a joke. She was a boy, how the  
hell could she marry another boy, let alone carry on the Saotome line  
by doing so. That had been before . . .  
The look on Ranma's face went from a grimace, to something  
like fear. She could have babies, even after four days, that fact made  
her guts churn. Ranma's knowledge of the facts of life would not  
have fit on the head of a pin, but it would not have missed by much.  
That had been before the incident.  
Now, thanks to Ayeka, she knew far more than she wanted to.  
She knew exactly what was involved in getting pregnant, and gods,  
did she wish she did not. The joke of an engagement, was suddenly,  
in her nightmares, very real. Despite her flippant attitude toward her  
dream, she was having a hard time dealing with the concept.  
This morning's had been rather mild. There had been a few  
dreams that had sent her to pray at the porcelain altar. The thought  
of being pregnant was really not that scary, it was too far out a  
notion, she couldn't even really imagine herself in that condition.  
What gave her nightmares, was what was involved in getting that  
way.  
Ranma shook her head. Poor Tenchi, she'd been avoiding him  
like the plague lately. No matter how hard she tried, she could not  
separate him from the thought of what the two of them were  
expected to do. As a result, she'd been ducking him, and when she  
could not, she'd found to her disgust that she'd break out in a cold  
sweat if she stayed near him for too long.  
Tenchi had taken to looking very hurt at Ranma's rejection,  
and had tried to apologize for whatever he had done wrong. Genma  
had cornered her about that, and had congratulated her on playing  
Tenchi so well. That comment had bothered her so much, she'd  
almost asked Ayeka what the hell Pop was talking about. She'd  
stopped herself, but only just.  
  
Ayeka, there was another problem, she'd been spending a lot of  
time the last few days staring at Ranma in a way she found very  
uncomfortable. It reminded her too much of the women in the  
market examining the live animals they were considering purchasing  
for the larder. It wasn't that she thought Ayeka wanted to eat her.  
She was very sure Ayeka was not that sort of alien, but all the same,  
it was a look that made her very uneasy.  
It was not that she was ungrateful for what the princess had  
done for her. She was, very grateful. She didn't even like to think  
what it would have been like if Ayeka had not been there to help,  
and to explain what was happening to her. She was willing to lay  
down her life for Ayeka, but talking about girl stuff with her . . . no  
way. Ranma suddenly shuddered violently as the train of thought  
she had just been on resulted in a flashback to that evening four days  
ago. Sitting on the floor of the bathroom, looking at the blood  
staining her hand.  
  
Ranma stumbled and fell as that sudden memory caused her to  
slip out of her well-practiced forms. She cursed to herself, and went  
back to the beginning. Ruthlessly, she drove all other thoughts from  
her brain, and focused fully on why she was here this morning, to  
practice the art.  
Ranma flowed into the rhythm only years of long practice  
allowed, letting the comfortable familiarity of muscle, bone, and  
mind merging together in one whole soothe her troubled thoughts.  
Soon, she was lost in the physical sensations of a perfectly executed  
kata, and from the first basic one, she moved to the next level, and  
then to the next, working her way ever higher. Sweat began to bead  
on her body, and it became more and more difficult to control her  
breathing. Still, she persevered, moving faster, and more intensely,  
pushing her body to its limits, until at last, she moved her body  
through one last contortion, and came to rest, calm and fully  
centered.  
  
Ranma let out a final slow even breath, and luxuriated in the  
complete lack of tension in her body, she was at one with, and at  
peace with, the world. Then, a pair of slim, strong arms slipped  
around her neck from behind, and shattered her mood. With a cry of  
surprise, she practically levitated several feet straight up and out of  
the encircling arms before they could fully close around her.  
Flipping through the air, she came to rest several feet away from her  
ambusher. Dropping into a defensive stance, she snarled. "What do  
you want pervert?"  
Ryouko gave a little pout, and said. "I was just saying good  
morning, is there anything wrong with that?"  
Ranma scowled as she detected the smirk Ryouko was not  
really trying all that hard to conceal. "Well, I don't like being  
touched by mummies in the morning." She lifted a hand and ran the  
back of it along one of her cheeks. "That rough old skin might  
damage my delicate girlish complexion. I'd hate to end up like you,  
all wrinkled and old looking."  
This had the effect Ranma was looking for. Ryouko flared up,  
and her hair flew out in an aura around her as excess energy  
discharged into the air. Ranma braced herself, looking forward to a  
nice spar now that she was all warmed up, but then to her surprise,  
Ryouko calmed down. With a flip of her head, she dismissed  
Ranma's words. "I've no time to play this morning sweet cheeks,"  
she said as she walked by Ranma, giving her a pat on the bottom as  
she did so.  
Ranma jumped in shock at the touch, and flushed red. "Hey,  
keep your hands to yourself pervert!" She yelled after the retreating  
figure. Ryouko ignored her, and just continued on her way toward  
the lake.  
"Ranma-neechan." A voice called out, distracting the fuming  
redhead from the object of her ire. Ranma turned to see Sasami  
waving at her from the house. With one last scathing look at the  
retreating Ryouko, Ranma headed over to see what the younger girl  
wanted. "Could you give me a hand Ranma-neechan?" Sasami  
asked as Ranma reached her. Ranma readily agreed, and they  
headed into the kitchen.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
Up on top of the hill, near where the path to the main road lay,  
a purple haired girl watched Ranma enter the house. Even at this  
distance she recognized the distinctive hair style of her prey. A cat  
like smile of satisfaction crossed her face. I have you now Ranma,  
Shampoo thought to herself. She fought down the temptation to fly  
down the hill and attack the other girl.  
The chase had been too long to risk Ranma escaping yet again.  
She had to plan this out. Try to get up close to Ranma without the  
other girl knowing she was there. Then, one final surprise attack,  
and she'd be on her way back home. Shampoo's eyes scanned the  
sides of the valley, looking for the best avenue of approach. She  
would need to work her way around the perimeter of the valley in  
order to keep under cover. That would take a little while, but after  
all the time this hunt had already taken she could be patient for just a  
little longer. Shampoo slipped back under the trees, and faded from  
sight.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
  
Ranma had been very glad when Sasami had taken up the  
chores around the house. She had a very good idea who might have  
been drafted into the job if the little girl hadn't. Then she'd caught  
Sasami two days ago trying to lift a boiling pot of water far too big  
for her off the stove. Scared at the thought of what might have  
happened to the little girl if she'd lost control of the heavy container,  
she'd ordered Sasami to call her whenever she needed any heavy  
lifting done. That had expanded over the last few days to include  
other chores. Without her father around to make nasty comments  
about her manhood Ranma really felt no reluctance about helping in  
the kitchen, and besides, if she helped a little, then there was less  
chance of Sasami growing bored or overloaded, and saddling Ranma  
with the full responsibilities of looking after the house.  
  
The kitchen was full of the smell of breakfast, which Sasami  
was in the process of making. She was also trying her hand at  
making a stew for supper, and needed to get it started early, so it  
could simmer all day. She had already grilled the meat for it.  
Ranma found herself drooling at the tantalizing scents. And when  
Sasami explained what she wanted, she readily sat down and began  
preparing the other ingredients for the stew, peeling, and slicing  
various vegetables with blurring speed, and freeing Sasami to  
concentrate on the morning meal. In no time at all the heavy pot of  
ingredients was ready to go on the back burner of the stove, and  
breakfast was ready to serve.  
  
Ranma helped carry the trays into the livingroom, and scowled  
when she saw Ryouko sitting on the couch fondling a large black  
egg-shaped object. Ranma laid the dishes out on the table, then  
dropped into a kneeling position beside it. Snagging a bowl of rice,  
she listened as Sasami asked Ryouko what the egg-shaped object  
was. Rice sprayed everywhere when Ryouko answered.  
Ranma whirled and looked in shock at Ryouko, and a blushing  
Tenchi who she was currently snuggling up to. A shocked looking  
Ayeka was standing a few feet away. "Nani? Tenchi and your  
baby!?" Ranma shouted, overwhelmed by the concept, especially  
considering her thoughts of a little earlier. Suddenly, for no reason  
she could think of, she found herself seeing red. Rising from her  
place by the table, she took one long stride, and reached out to snag  
Ryouko's long coarse hair. Before the girl could protest, or brace  
herself, Ranma yanked her away from Tenchi. "You pervert, what  
did you do with Tenchi?" She raged at the cyan haired demoness,  
while directing dirty looks back and forth between Tenchi and  
Ryouko.  
  
Meanwhile, a few feet away, Ayeka was laying into a very  
flustered Tenchi. "You philanderer, how dare you betray Ranma in  
this way." Fortunately for her, Ranma missed this comment. She  
was too busy yelling at Ryouko for being a pervert and molesting  
Tenchi.  
Sasami was ignoring the activity, having grown pretty much  
used to it in the last few days, and was gazing raptly at Tenchi and  
Ryouko's egg, which she held cradled in her hands. It gave a lurch,  
and rocked back and forth. Sasami let out a shriek of delight, and  
shouted. "Its hatching, its hatching!" This drew the attention of the  
various fighting parties, and Ryouko took advantage of the  
distraction to slip out of Ranma's grasp. She phased across to  
Sasami, and snatched the black egg out of her hand. Wasting no  
time, she next phased over to Tenchi, and dropped the black object  
into the flabbergasted boy's hands. Cuddling up to him, she crooned  
into his ear. "Here Tenchi, hold this tribute of our love."  
Ayeka, if anything, went even redder. She reared back, and  
slapped Tenchi across the face, shocking him out of his bewildered  
daze. "How dare you consort with this monster woman, when  
Ranma is living under the same roof. Have you no honor?" Ayeka  
cried.  
Tenchi tried to say something in his defense. Ranma also  
started to object to Ayeka's remarks. The idea that Tenchi owed her  
any fidelity was very disturbing. Before either one of them could  
voice his or her objections, the egg in Tenchi's hand cracked, and he  
looked down to see a pair of furry legs pop out of the side of the  
shell. The last few minutes had been stressful for Tenchi, and his  
nerves were not currently at their best. The fully unexpected  
appearance of a pair of animal legs poking out of an egg was the  
final straw. With a cry of shock, he flung his hands into the air, and  
the egg went sailing in a high arc.  
Ranma reacted instinctively. No matter how strange the  
circumstance that was a baby flying through the air. While Sasami  
watched in horror, Ranma flung herself across the room in a low  
dive that got her into position just in time to catch the falling egg  
before it hit ground. Sasami gave a relieved sigh as she saw Ranma  
catch the egg. At pretty much the same time, the creature inside the  
egg succeeded in breaking loose from its prison. It fell into Ranma's  
hands, and looked up at the girl looming over her. "Meow" she said  
in pleasure at being free of her confining prison.  
  
On the other side of the room, Ryouko and Ayeka were having  
a screaming match, and it was just about to go beyond the verbal  
stage. Ayeka had summoned her force field generators, while  
Ryouko had materialized her energy sword. Tenchi had tried to play  
peacemaker, and was currently picking himself up off the floor,  
looking somewhat the worse for wear.  
That was when Sasami said, "oh my, what's wrong with  
Ranma-neechan?" All eyes turned toward the redhead, and puzzled  
frowns crossed the faces of all of them. All of them that is, that had  
faces, as opposed say, to those that presented a Kanji-covered surface  
to the world.  
Kamidake eeped quietly, and slowly sidled his way over till he  
was standing right between Ayeka, Sasami and the peculiarly acting  
redhead. In a voice that quivered in barely repressed terror, he said.  
"Princesses, may I recommend you withdraw, this could be  
hazardous." To his great distress he was ignored completely. Both  
princesses stepping around him to get closer to Ranma.  
Everyone in the room had eyes only for the little redhead, who  
was hunched over on the floor, her hair standing out from her head  
as if charged with static. Her back was to them, and she was making  
tiny choking noises. Over her voice could be heard what sounded  
like a small cat mewling.  
"Ryo-oh-ki, that's Ryo-oh-ki, she's hatched out!" Ryouko  
suddenly said. "Oh Tenchi, wait until you see her, she's so cute at  
this age." She gushed.  
"Ryo-oh-ki?" Ayeka, Sasami and Tenchi all said questioningly.  
  
Ayeka suddenly flushed an even deeper red than before, as she  
realized she'd once more been played for a fool by Ryouko.  
  
Ryouko in the meantime, walked toward the hunched over  
figure of Ranma. Looking over Ranma's shoulder she could see  
Ryo-oh-ki cuddled in the small girl's hands. With a smile she  
reached down to pluck the little cabbit from Ranma's hand. There  
was a blur of motion, and Ryouko stumbled back as four small  
objects fell through the air, and burst into fire and smoke before they  
could hit the ground. Ryouko held up her hand, and stared at the  
stubs that were all that was left of the four fingers on that hand.  
Everyone else in the room gasped in shock. Then, all eyes turned to  
look at Ranma. She was now crouched on all fours facing them, her  
hands curled up so that her weight was resting on the back of her  
fingers. Ryo-oh-ki was on the floor between her fists, looking out at  
the rest of the people in the room with an expression of great  
curiosity on her face. It was the expression in Ranma's eyes,  
however, that drew everyone's attention. They were completely  
feral. There was not the least trace of humanity in those burning  
orbs.  
"Why you little . . ." Ryouko snarled out, she curled her  
mutilated hand into a fist, and then opened it wide, revealing that  
her fingers had been regenerated. She closed it again convulsively,  
and this time a lance of energy appeared as her sword manifested in  
her clenched fist. She took a step toward the hissing Ranma, and  
then was stopped when a pair of arms encircled her body.  
"Ryouko-san, stop. Something is wrong with Ranma." Tenchi  
cried out, as he tried to hold the raging demon girl back. A second  
later Ayeka joined his efforts, and a set of force shield generators  
phased into existence around the pair of them, holding them both  
immobile.  
"Let me go!" Ryouko snarled, "I'm going to teach the little  
bitch some manners!"  
"I think not." Ayeka said in a smug voice, not showing the  
disappointment she felt over not acting fast enough to cage Ryouko  
before Tenchi had gotten close to her. With Tenchi inside the shield  
along with Ryouko, she could not send pulsed energy through the  
containment field. Galling as it was, she had to be content with  
merely holding Ryouko still, rather than teaching her good manners.  
  
Satisfied that the situation with Ryouko was taken care of, she  
turned her back on the raging monster woman, and looked toward  
Ranma. Ayeka studied Ranma closely, and was in turn studied by  
Ranma, who cocked her head to one side, and was looking at her  
with a puzzled expression on her face.  
"Ayeka-sama" Came a rather strangled voice from behind her,  
causing her to break off her examination for a second. What she saw  
when she turned around, temporarily drove all thoughts of Ranma  
from her mind.  
When Tenchi had seized Ryouko, he had not been overly  
concerned with where he put his hands, being only interested in  
keeping her away from Ranma. When Ayeka had sealed him in with  
Ryouko, she had fastened them together as well as a mile of rope  
would have. It had not taken Ryouko very long to take note of this,  
and she was now happily purring as Tenchi was trying very hard to  
keep from hemorrhaging. It was this effort that caused the strangled  
quality in his voice.  
"You monster, let him go at once." Ayeka demanded,  
somewhat illogically under the circumstances. A fact Ryouko was  
quick to point out.  
"I'm not the one doing the holding here Princess." Ryouko said  
rather smugly. Nestling back against the very red Tenchi, she said  
in a faux girlish voice. "Oooohhh, Tenchi, don't squeeze so hard.  
You need to treat them gently."  
  
It went without saying that Ayeka dropped the force screen  
with great haste. Tenchi nearly threw himself across the room in an  
effort to get at some tissues. Ryouko watched him go, a lecherous  
smirk on her face. She faded away just as the force shield generators  
reformed around her former position. "Nice try Princess," Ryouko  
sneered from her new position on the other side of the room. She  
lifted her hand, open palm toward Ayeka, and fired a wide blast of  
energy that flung Ayeka across the room into the sofa, which tipped  
over dumping her onto the floor behind it. This left Ayeka  
scrambling to lower her dress to a slightly less indecorous height  
much to Ryouko's amusement, and Tenchi's continued distress. He  
quickly stuffed another wad of tissue up his nose.  
"Now, where was I?" Ryouko asked rhetorically, summoning  
her energy sword once again. "Oh yes, teaching Ms Quick-knife  
here a lesson in respect." She answered herself, just before flinging  
herself across the room toward the crouching figure of Ranma. Too  
late as it happened.  
  
Ranma-neko had been confused, this was the second time in a  
row she had found herself in a situation outside of anything she was  
use to. While the toy from her previous time was here, and there  
was another one she had not seen before just like it, there were also  
factors she had never experienced. First and foremost among these  
was the kitten between her paws. It was hers, of that there could be  
no doubt. Not for her the confusion and bewilderment that such a  
discovery would cause in a human. She had no concern with how or  
why, merely what was, and the kitten was hers.  
This created great conflict in her. Her first instinct when she  
had been attacked by the strange thing that looked like a  
screamer/chaser/chew toy, but was not, had been to retaliate, but  
that would have meant leaving her kitten behind, so she had  
refrained, settling with merely warning off the strange creature.  
Then, the most peculiar thing had happened. Two of the humans,  
she recognized as feeder/warm-lap-possessors, had intervened,  
stopping the strange one from attacking. Both of these humans had  
also slipped out of her usual terms of reference as she focused on  
them. For some reason, the male awoke feelings she had never  
experienced before, at least not with a human. A certain feeling of  
trepidation she had only felt in the presence of dominant males  
before. The last time she had felt this way had been with that large  
striped male. She had sent him on his way well chastised for his  
presumption. Never before however had she regarded one of the  
human things in this light, it was perverse, he was not even a cat.  
Of course Ranma-neko did not think of it in those terms. She  
was merely at one, familiar with the reaction, and two, disturbed at  
the cause of them. She did not understand the concept of mating.  
She had never been in heat. She merely knew that there was  
something about this male that made her both want to flee, and at  
the same time approach him. Only the presence of her kitten held  
her rooted firmly to the spot.  
The second human to create confusion in her was less  
disturbing. She was . . . mother, no, that did not seem right, how  
could she be mother, but there it was, the feeling of this person being  
someone she could flee to in times of turmoil, very much like this  
time. The feeder/warm-lap-provider was busy fighting with the  
strange not human however, and again, Ranma had her kitten to  
think about. The tearing frustration of her conflicting drives finally  
made Ranma lift back her head and let out a loud yowl of anger, and  
frustration. Then, bending over, she grasped her kitten by the scruff  
of the neck, and fled for a quieter location. Somewhere where she  
could look after the little creature in peace. A quick slash of her  
claws removed the trifling obstacle between her and the outside, and  
she leaped through the shattered remains of the wall, well ahead of  
Ryouko's attack.  
  
Ryouko paused in surprise as Ranma exploded through the  
outside wall. Carrying Ryo-oh-ki in her mouth, Ranma rapidly  
crossed the open ground and disappeared among the trees lining the  
valley. Her speed was incredible, faster even than when they had  
fought the other day.  
The shock from Ranma's unexpected attack had worn off by  
this time, and Ryouko was no longer driven as much by her anger, as  
by her curiosity. The brief period she had spent trapped with Tenchi  
had also gone a long way toward softening her mood. Now, as she  
looked toward where Ranma had disappeared, she was found herself  
more curious than furious. She was receiving very strange signals  
from Ryo-oh-ki. Deciding to investigate from a distance, she took to  
the air, and headed out after Ranma and her newborn ship/partner.  
She failed to note the small force shield generators that phased into  
place where she had been standing a moment before.  
  
Ayeka let out a very unladylike curse as she was once again too  
slow to catch Ryouko. Accompanied by Tenchi, she rushed over to  
the new opening in the wall, and looked up at the rapidly  
disappearing demon girl. "We must go after them!" She said to  
Tenchi, and then not waiting for an answer, started out. Tenchi was  
right behind her. He well remembered the condition Ranma had  
returned in after her last encounter with Ryouko, and he was worried  
at what might happen this time. As well, the way Ranma was  
behaving was very worrisome. He wondered if this was some aspect  
of the curse she claimed to be under, or if it was caused by something  
else entirely.  
As if echoing Tenchi's thoughts, Ayeka spoke suddenly. "That  
creature of Ryouko's must be responsible for Ranma's behavior!"  
She stated, as much to herself as to Tenchi. "She was acting in a  
similar way when Kamidake tried to bring her to my ship. Be very  
careful Tenchi-sama. She can be very dangerous." Then after a  
moment of consideration, she added. "We must get that vermin  
away from her so she can be restored." Tenchi said not a word,  
saving his breath for what he felt could be a long chase.  
  
Behind them, Sasami watched them leave, wondering what to  
do. A sound behind her caused her to turn, and see Grandfather  
Masaki making his way through the wreckage Ranma had made of  
the wall. "What happened here, Sasami-chan?" he asked her.  
Sasami took one last look in the direction her sister and Tenchi had  
disappeared, and then started to explain the events of the morning as  
well as she was able, given that she was pretty much totally confused  
as to what was going on. Her explanation contained a lot of Ryouko-  
neechan did this, then Ayeka-oneechan did that, while Ranma-  
neechan and Tenchi-nesan did something else.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
Ranma-neko emerged from the forest and into a small sun-  
dappled clearing. Satisfied that she had put a good distance between  
herself, and any of the humans who had disturbed her, she got down  
to important matters. Pinning Ryo-oh-ki under one paw, she  
proceeded to do what she would have done long ago if it had not  
been for all the interruptions, and that was to thoroughly clean the  
wriggling little cabbit.  
  
Up near the top of a tall tree on the edge of the clearing,  
Ryouko stuck out her tongue in sympathetic distaste. "Oh yuck," she  
said, but quietly, not wanting to disturb Ranma, and send her off on  
another headlong run. She had already spent fifteen minutes at high  
speed, chasing Ranma. The strangly acting girl had run in a very  
confusing pattern, and only the fact that Ryouko had an aerial view  
had let her keep the pair in sight. Ryouko did not know if Ranma  
was trying to lose any pursuit, or was just changing her mind every  
five seconds as to which way she wanted to go. Whatever it was, it  
was highly effective against losing conventional pursuers. Tenchi  
and Ayeka had lost the trail within five minutes by Ryouko's  
reckoning.  
  
Ryouko leaned back against the trunk of the tree, and watched  
as Ranma finished washing Ryo-oh-ki, and the two of them began to  
play. Ranma, bouncing from one side of the clearing to another,  
while Ryo-oh-ki tried valiantly, if futilely, to keep up.  
Ryouko suddenly became aware of a strange feeling in her  
chest. She placed a hand over her heart, and looked down at it, a red  
flush suffusing her face. "Nani? What is this?" She murmured to  
herself in a soft voice as a warmth spread out from her heart. She  
lifted her eyes and gazed down at the pair beneath her. "Ryo-oh-ki,"  
she breathed out. "It's Ryo-oh-ki's feelings I'm feeling . . . So  
warm." A happy smile spread across Ryouko's face, and she  
repeated herself in an even softer tone. "So warm." She leaned back  
against the sun heated bark of the tree she was sitting on and let the  
warm emotions from Ryo-oh-ki suffuse her.  
  
Ryouko suddenly stiffened as her higher vantage point allowed  
her to spot danger headed toward the happy pair. A girl moving  
with the grace of a warrior had crept out of the underbrush, and was  
now crouched hidden on the outskirts of the clearing where Ranma  
was playing with Ryo-oh-ki. A feral grin crossed Ryouko's face, one  
that contained not an ounce of humor. There was a slight shimmer,  
and the branch where she had been sitting was suddenly empty.  
  
Shampoo's lips pulled back in a silent snarl as she found  
herself closer to her prey than at any time in the last two and a half  
months. Memories of her long search kept her from rushing to the  
attack. This time there would be no warning. Ranma had proven  
herself a coward, fleeing honorable combat time and time again, she  
did not deserve the courtesy of challenge. Shampoo would mark her  
time until the perfect opportunity arose, and then; one swing; and it  
would be over.  
She gazed out over the clearing in front of her, and her brow  
furrowed as she puzzled over the strange activity of her target. She  
was playing with some sort of bizarre creature, the like of which  
Shampoo had never seen before. For a second curiosity filled her,  
but then she ruthlessly shoved it aside. What Ranma was doing, and  
why, were of no matter. All that mattered was that she was at last in  
range of Shampoo's vengeance. Shampoo gently stroked the blade  
of the sword she held in one hand. Soon, very soon it would run  
crimson with the life blood of her enemy, and her quest would be  
over.  
"Nice sword." A voice came from behind her, and Shampoo  
spun around to face whoever had crept up on her. She snarled in  
frustrated rage at being interrupted so close to her goal. Surely  
Ranma was already fleeing in cowardly terror. Well, this interloper  
would pay for interfering in an Amazon's quest. All this ran  
through Shampoo's mind in a split second, just long enough for  
Shampoo to turn and see her potential foe standing there with her  
arms crossed, and to note that she was doing so two feet off the  
ground.  
"Want to see mine," the cyan haired stranger said, and even as  
Shampoo took in her yellow cat slitted eyes, the stranger held up a  
hand and flexed it. A beam of incandescent light suddenly sprang to  
life in that hand, and Shampoo found herself facing what looked like  
a sword crafted from raw Chi. Shampoo watched in stupefied  
amazement as the floating woman drew back her sword hand. Her  
inaction did not last long. One did not reach Shampoo's level in the  
martial arts by letting surprise slow you down. When the woman's  
glowing sword passed through the space her body had occupied, she  
was already several feet away, her own sword in the guard position.  
"Who you demon?" Shampoo demanded.  
"Ryouko, I'm Ryouko," said the woman with a smirk.  
"Remember it well, and be sure to tell all the denizens of hell who  
sent you there." She matched her words with another attack, one  
Shampoo also dodged, and this time she counterattacked, swinging  
her sword in a shallow arc as she ducked under the flying woman's  
swing.  
Shampoo grinned to herself at how badly her opponent had left  
herself open. She was grossly overextended, and it would take her  
precious moments to redirect the mass of her sword. Shampoo's self  
congratulations soon turned to a curse against her own foolishness.  
She barely managed to leap away in time to avoid the demon's  
response, but not before she left the tip of her sword laying on the  
ground. Her opponent's Chi sword had sheared the last ten inches  
off as clean as a knife through butter. Shampoo hadn't even felt a  
tug on the hilt as it did so.  
That was stupid Shampoo, she thought to herself. Of course  
her sword would have no weight. She can move it as quickly as  
thought itself. Shampoo reached into her clothing with her free  
hand, pulled it out, and with a flick or her wrist, snapped it in the  
demon girl's direction. A spread of shuriken throwing spikes flew  
from her fingers, spreading as they went. Shampoo allowed herself  
another tight little grin, and waited to see how the girl would handle  
these. No matter how fast her sword was, she'd have to work to  
avoid all the knives . . . Shampoo paled as the cyan haired girl  
simply faded out of existence, allowing the knives to flash through  
Ryouko's former position and imbed themselves in several trees.  
Realization suddenly crashed over her, and she knew exactly  
what, and who she was facing. Ever since she had learned the name  
of the place her prey had fled to, something had been bothering her.  
She had been sure she'd heard it somewhere before, but had put it  
aside as unimportant. Now, the name Ryouko suddenly clicked into  
place beside the name Masaki shrine.  
"You is demon Yosho sealed!" Shampoo blurted out, whirling  
to face the demon who had materialized behind her.  
The demon girl paused in her planned attack, then she snorted  
and said, "that damn Yosho. Did he go boasting about it to everyone  
he met?"  
"What you mean he? Yosho Shampoo's ancestress, she very  
great warrior. Shampoo's great, great-grandfather descended from  
her."  
"Take it from someone who knows, Yosho was all man . . . hey,  
don't tell me you're another one of his get. Man. He sure loved to  
spread himself around. So what's your beef with Ranma? Family  
quarrel?"  
"What you say, Shampoo no family to cowardly redhead girl."  
Ryouko lowered her sword till the tip was nearly resting on the  
ground, and smirked at Shampoo. "Red might be a lot of things,  
annoying, loud, top-heavy, and an all-around pain in the butt, but  
she is no coward. If you claim Yosho as an ancestor, than she's  
family alright."  
"You lie, try to confuse Shampoo." Shampoo once again threw  
a handful of throwing spikes toward Ryouko, and then barely waiting  
for her to fade from sight, whirled and started to swing her truncated  
sword toward the empty space behind her.  
"Nice try, but you lose." Came a mocking voice from behind  
her. Ryouko had only phased out of the way of the throwing spikes,  
not teleported, when she returned to solid form, Shampoo's back was  
fully exposed to her. Shampoo did the only thing she could, she  
dove forward, and skidded face first through the forest trash that  
covered the ground, grinding old leaves, small stones, dirt, and other  
less savory things into her face and upper body. Ignoring the small  
scratches and bruises this caused, she kept moving in a mad  
scramble rolling her body to the side and thrusting out with a leg to  
shove herself into a somersault that brought her to her feet several  
yards from where she had left her opponent. Ryouko was still  
standing in her original position, a smirk on her face.  
Shampoo flushed in anger at being played for a fool, but she  
resisted the temptation to fling herself at the demon. There was a  
much more important matter here than Shampoo's pride, or even her  
life. This demon was a family responsibility, and Shampoo was not  
foolish enough to believe she could handle her. Even in the unlikely  
event she could defeat the demon, she had not the least notion of  
how to seal it back up again in its prison.  
The current tenants of the shrine would be no help. The fact  
that they had been careless enough to let the demon escape in the  
first place proved they were not competent enough to help her.  
Shampoo would have to get help she knew could do the job. So, the  
question was. Could she survive and escape to do it? The answer  
was, she had no idea, but she would have to try. Shampoo spun on  
her heels, and started to run, only to skid to a halt and barely duck  
out of the way of the demon's gleaming sword as it materialized in  
front of her.  
"I'm not done playing yet!" The demon snarled at her, a  
malicious smile on her face. Shampoo looked at her, then rose to her  
feet in resignation. It looked like she would not escape after all. The  
only option left to her was to show this demon that an Amazon knew  
how to die well. Dropping her left leg back, she raised her sword  
parallel to the ground just above her head, one hand steadying it near  
the severed tip. She faced the demon and waited for a chance to  
strike at least one blow. While she waited for the demon's final  
assault, she started to sing her death chant in a soft voice.  
  
Ryouko was not impressed, with a smirk she raised her sword,  
she had no intention of doing any real harm, but she was in a playful  
mood, no doubt due to leakage from Ryo-oh-ki. Stomping on another  
of Yosho's seemingly innumerable brood would be a pleasant way to  
spend a sunny day. It was about at that point she was bowled over by  
a redheaded ball of concentrated mayhem. Ranma-neko wanted to  
play too.  
  
It had been the noise that had attracted Ranma and Ryo-oh-ki's  
attention, and after a brief internal struggle, Ranma's curiosity had  
won out over her recently acquired maternal instincts. She had  
gently picked Ryo-oh-ki up and deposited her behind a small shrub.  
Then, having hidden her kitten, she'd stalked carefully toward the  
disturbance, her nerves on edge, and ready to bolt at the least little  
sign she and Ryo-oh-ki had been discovered. For her part, Ryo-oh-ki  
watched Ranma intently, for all of ten seconds, then a passing  
butterfly caught her attention, and she bumbled off in pursuit of it.  
  
The faux feline crept through the grass of the clearing to the  
bushes lining the edges of it, and carefully peered beyond the  
sheltering shrubbery into the gloom of the deeper forest. Ranma-  
neko's hackles rose as she witnessed the activity on the other side.  
Someone was playing with _her_ toy. All her doubt concerning  
what Ryouko actually was, were forgotten, because of one thing  
Ranma was sure of. Whatever else the strange one might be, she  
was Ranma's. A low growl began to form in the back of her throat.  
She crouched down, drawing her legs under her body in preparation  
to springing. Then, she froze, blending into the sun dappled  
shrubbery as she waited for her chance. It was not long in coming,  
soon the tide of battle brought the two contestants close enough for  
Ranma to make her move.  
Silent as a ghost, Ranma sprang, taking Ryouko completely by  
surprise, and tumbling her across the ground. They came to a stop  
with Ranma on top, and she directed a hiss of fury toward the purple  
haired interloper who had dared touch her property.  
  
"What the hell are you doing you crazy bitch? Get off of me!"  
Ryouko yelled, as she got over her surprise at the sudden attack.  
With a shove, she sent Ranma flying through the air. The redhead  
effortlessly reoriented herself, and landed with her feet and hands  
against the bole of a large tree, for a second she hung there, defying  
gravity. Then, with a yowl of delight, she pushed off and came  
sailing back toward Ryouko, who escaped by flying straight up,  
allowing Ranma to go sailing past her former position.  
Ranma did not let her near miss discourage her. She bounced  
off yet another tree, this time going nearly straight up until she could  
reach a large branch with which to springboard herself toward  
Ryouko. Ryouko was forced to dodge yet again, and this time was  
not quite quick enough. She had underestimated Ranma's speed, and  
before she realized it, Ranma snagged the tails trailing off the back  
of Ryouko's jacket, and she found herself being yanked down toward  
the ground, hard.  
  
"All right! That _is_it!" Ryouko screamed, brushing dirt off of  
her face, and spitting some more of the same out of her mouth.  
Powering up an impressive force bolt in her hand, she released it  
toward Ranma, who was at that very moment preparing for another  
attack. "Chew on this!" Ryouko said, a smile of anticipation on her  
face as she readied two smaller force bolts to throw when Ranma  
dodged the large one.  
The problem was, Ranma did not dodge. "NO!" Ryouko cried  
out in denial, when Ranma sprang directly toward the oncoming  
blast, immaterial claws raked out. Claws of pure life force that could  
cut any substance, met non substance, and shredded it, but did not  
stop it. Instead its tight focus was disrupted, and instead of  
impacting on one small spot, with instant fatality being the result,  
Ranma was caught in a burst that encompassed her entire body. Her  
forward motion was halted instantly, and she was flung backward  
with tremendous force. A tall stately giant of the forest shuddered  
violently as Ranma impacted with it's base, and slowly slid down its  
trunk to lie in a huddled heap at the bottom.  
"No." Ryouko whispered, her voice barely audible, the two  
unused spheres of energy in her hands dissipated as she looked at the  
small huddled form at the base of the tree. She floated toward  
Ranma, talking softly to herself. "You baka, you were supposed to  
dodge. Why didn't you dodge?" She reached Ranma, and stretched  
out a hand toward her still body, then stopped, afraid to touch her,  
afraid of causing even more harm. A vision suddenly appeared in  
her mind of Tenchi, looking down at the shattered remains of  
Ranma, and looking at Ryouko with hatred and loathing. "baka,  
Baka, BAKA!" Ryouko's scream rang through the forest.  
  
Some distance away, watching from behind the shelter of a  
large tree Shampoo felt her heart lurch. Her quest was over. Ranma  
was dead. So why didn't she feel happy? She shook off the thought  
as unworthy of her, and started to inch herself way away from the  
demon. She moved with the utmost caution until she judged herself  
far enough distant, and then she broke into a run. Not a sprint, but a  
ground covering lope she could keep up for days if need be, and it  
was needed.  
She had to get back to the village as fast as she could. Her  
family had sealed the demon once before, and they would do it again.  
She just had to bring help back before the demon grew too great in  
power to be sealed.  
Despite Shampoo's efforts to put it behind her, she could not  
stop thinking of Ranma. How the girl had taken the demon off of  
Shampoo, and had died for it. Most of all, she remembered the  
demons remarks that Ranma was a relative. She longed to call in a  
lie, but this was the Masaki shrine, the one place in all of Japan  
Shampoo could reasonablely expect to find a relative. Sweat ran  
down her forehead and into her eyes, and the stinging salt water  
caused tears to flow down Shampoo's cheeks, and off of her chin, so  
as she ran she left small teardrops glistening in the air behind her.  
She ignored the sting, she ignored her thoughts about Ranma, and  
most of all she ignored the tears. Only one thing mattered. Getting  
back to China as quickly as possible.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
Tenchi and Ayeka raced through the rain, holding articles of  
clothing over their heads as they headed for the old wood lot shed.  
Slamming open the door, they scuttled inside, and turned to look out  
at the intensifying storm.  
"We should keep looking," Ayeka said, as she looked out at the  
downpour, a touch of doubt in her voice.  
"We'd never find her in this." Tenchi said in a regretful tone,  
also looking out at the rain. Giving a shiver as a gust of wind from  
the open door chilled him in his damp clothing, he looked around,  
and found an old tin fire pot, and the ingredients to make a fire with.  
Soon he had a crackling blaze going, and after a last look out at the  
sodden forest, Ayeka came to join him in front of it.  
  
Back in the shadows, a small figure watched the pair of them.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
It was the rain dripping on the top of her head that woke  
Ryouko. She looked up with bleary eyes, not sure at first where she  
was. Then, she remembered, the strange girl named after a hair care  
product, the fight, Ranma's intervention, and the energy blast that  
threw the little redhead against a tree with sickening force. Her  
heart in her throat, she looked down at the small shape whose head  
was currently resting in her lap, and noted with relief that she  
seemed to be breathing easily, and appeared none the worse for the  
damage she had taken.  
Ryouko knew she should have flown Ranma home, but she had  
been afraid. Afraid of what Tenchi's reaction would be if she  
showed up at the door with Ranma's broken form cradled in her  
arms. She well remembered the events of four days ago, and wanted  
no repeat of them. So, afraid to take Ranma for help, but also not  
able to leave the girl where she was, she had settled for staying with  
her, cradling Ranma's head on her lap and waiting for her to wake  
up. At some point she had fallen asleep, and had just now woken.  
She looked around her, and noted the evidence of a heavy  
downpour. Clearly the old, heavily leafed tree they were under had  
sheltered them from the worst of it, but some drops were making it  
through the canopy now that the storm was over, and it had been  
those that had awakened her. More of those drops were still falling,  
and some of them made it past Ryouko's head, and struck Ranma's  
cheek. She gave a small discontented sound, and moved her head to  
the side to avoid the sensation.  
  
Ranma was once again in the pond with the bamboo stake  
behind her, once again she had faced the attacker, and blown him  
and his companion to blood tinged sawdust. Now, she felt her body  
relaxing inexorably. Unable to do anything to prevent it she felt  
herself slipping into the water, the cold wet closing over her head.  
Then, something new happened. A cry echoed in Ranma's head.  
"Father, mother, I don't want to die yet!" Ranma wanted to weep  
from the desolation in that cry, but there was something else in it as  
well. The cry contained power. Ranma's whole body shuddered with  
the force of it. Then, the thought faded, and all that was left was the  
sensation of cold and damp.  
Ranma fought against the blackness that was trying to take over  
her mind. Struggling against the pull of the water, she clawed her  
way toward a single spot of brightness that appeared just a little way  
if front of her.  
  
Ryouko felt Ranma suddenly go stiff, and a faint voice reached  
her. "Oh man, not again." She heard Ranma say, and there was  
more than a hint of despair in her voice. Ryouko looked down at the  
small redhead, a feeling of joy surging in her breast as she realized  
that she might not have to face an angry Tenchi again. Ranma  
opened her blue eyes, and blinked them several times to clear her  
vision, her gaze focused on Ryouko's smiling face. For a second her  
face appeared puzzled, as if she could not quite make connections.  
Then, her eyes widened in recognition, and the next thing Ryouko  
saw, was Ranma fist heading for the space between her eyes.  
"YOU PERVERT!!!!!"  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
"What was that?" Tenchi asked, but while Ayeka looked in the  
direction of the faint sound that had come to them as they walked  
along the road. She did not reply to his question, or even look at  
him.  
Tenchi gave a sigh, and looked down at the cause of Ayeka's  
current anger. The furry creature in his arms looked up from where  
it was gnawing on a carrot nearly as big as it was, and gave a mew of  
inquiry. Tenchi smiled, and gently stroked her. She gave a happy  
chirp, and went back to her carrot. Looking back up, Tenchi gazed  
with regret at Ayeka's stiff back. He hated that she was mad at him,  
but he truly could not see how this little creature could be responsible  
for Ranma's condition. And even if he had believed that, he didn't  
think he could have killed the little thing in cold blood.  
He sighed once again, he and Ayeka had been getting along so  
well. She had been talking openly and freely about her brother and  
Tenchi's ancestor. Then, they had discovered Ryo-oh-ki was sharing  
the old hut with them. Ayeka was not pleased. She had handed  
Tenchi the hilt for Yosho's sword, and ordered him to destroy the  
monster. Tenchi had declined, which had caused Ayeka to snatch  
away the sword, and to march out the door, Tenchi two steps behind,  
Ryo-oh-ki cradled in his arms.  
  
"What is that?" Ayeka suddenly said, her voice expressing  
great surprise.  
Tenchi, who had almost walked into her when she had come to  
a sudden stop, looked off in the direction of her gaze. "That's the  
sacred tree of the shrine, it's supposed to make it rain and grant . . ."  
he trailed off as he realized Ayeka was not listening, instead, she  
was making her way down the slope toward the tree, a look of  
mingled anticipation, and hope on her face.  
  
"There can be no doubt." Ayeka said, her hand resting on the  
massive trunk of the tree. "This is Funaho."  
"Funaho?" Tenchi asked, but Ayeka ignored him. Instead, she  
took out Yosho's sword, and tapped it against the trunk of the  
shrine's sprit tree. Energy crackled between the two pieces of wood,  
and to Tenchi's great amazement, beams of prismatic light lanced  
down to the waters of the pond that encircled the tree, bouncing  
them back up to the overhead branches. The surrounding  
countryside vanished, and Tenchi found himself standing in  
blackness. Ayeka, Ryo-oh-ki, and himself mere outlines. Vivid  
images began to appear, and Tenchi found himself witnessing the  
confrontation between Yosho and Ryouko, and Funaho and Ryo-oh-  
ki.  
He watched in amazement as the battle reached its climax.  
Funaho fired a burst of energy that shattered Ryo-oh-ki, causing her  
to crash and create a large crater that Tenchi realized must have  
been the origin of the small lake in front of the house.  
The scene switched, and Tenchi watched as Yosho thrust the  
gleaming length of his sword through Ryouko's neck. Even then,  
she fought on, trying to drag herself down that beam of incandescent  
energy in an effort to get at her enemy. Her sheer vicious savagery  
was awesome. Different by far from the Ryouko he had come to  
know in the last week. The scene before them faded out as one by  
one, the jewels that powered Ryouko were drawn from her body, and  
down the swords length to its hilt.  
  
"He's alive." Were Ayeka's first words after the final vision  
faded from sight. "He has to be alive. If Funaho is here, than my  
brother is alive. Somewhere, he is alive, and I'll find him." Tears  
streamed down Ayeka's face, and she looked up at the overhead  
canopy, with an expression of such hope on her face that she was  
utterly transformed. Tenchi found himself holding his breath, she  
was so beautiful he was afraid she might vanish like a dream if he  
made a noise.  
  
The moment did not last, Ayeka's face suddenly twisted into a  
snarl of anger, and she shouted out. "Get away from her you  
monster!" Tenchi was shocked by the sudden transformation, and  
followed Ayeka's angry glare to where Ryo-oh-ki was standing on  
her hind legs, her front paws resting against Funaho's trunk. She  
mewed in an inquiring tone, patting the massive bole with one of her  
paws. To Tenchi's horror, Ayeka drew back the hand holding  
Yosho's sword, her intention clear in the furious expression on her  
face.  
Tenchi lurched forward, trying to place himself between the  
small creature and Ayeka, but before he could reach her, Funaho  
came to life. Once again beams of light lanced down from her  
branches, and the real world faded away as Funaho once again  
showed them scenes from her memory banks.  
At first everything was black. Not the black of before, but  
somehow different, though Tenchi could not say how. Then, jagged  
white lines, like lightning appeared. When the bright jagged marks  
did not shift or fade Tenchi realized it was not lightning, but rather  
cracks in some sort of black wall. Then, a large chunk of the wall  
fell away, and they could see three humans. A man, a woman, and a  
small child, a boy. They were enormous. At first Tenchi thought  
they were giants, but then, he realized it was a matter of perspective.  
They were normal people, it was whoever's memory they were  
seeing who was small. The man and woman wore expressions of  
shock on their face, but the little boy's face broke into a broad smile.  
Before his parents could stop him, he stepped forward, and Tenchi  
felt a touch of vertigo as the world swooped and swirled around him.  
They, or rather, the person who's memory they were viewing, had  
been picked up.  
The scene suddenly pulled back, and the image grew more  
normal. Suddenly, Tenchi saw whose eyes they had been seeing  
through. Ryo-oh-ki's. She was being held in the little boys hands.  
Tenchi was puzzled. Then, he took note of the archaic clothing the  
people wore, and the furnishings that surrounded them, and realized  
that they were seeing the past, just as they had earlier. This was not  
their Ryo-oh-ki, but another one, most likely the one that came  
before this one, and after the one Funaho had destroyed.  
  
The image swirled and changed.  
They were seeing the same family again, they were kneeling  
around a table eating, but this time there was a small fur-covered  
child at the table with them. Her features made it clear who she was.  
This was Ryo-oh-ki again, but one who looked almost human. She  
was eating, with every indication of enjoyment, some sort of plant  
Tenchi had never seen. There was a large bushel basket of similar  
plants next to her, and she was diligently working her way through  
the contents of it. The adults no longer looked fearful of her.  
Instead they seemed to be treating her very much as they did their  
son.  
  
The image changed.  
Now it was just the boy and Ryo-oh-ki. Or at least Tenchi  
assumed it was the boy. Ryo-oh-ki now looked like a teenager, and  
so did the boy. They were walking through a forest, holding hands.  
The boy suddenly stopped, and Ryo-oh-ki took one step before  
realizing he had stopped. She paused and looked at him, a  
questioning expression on her face. He took her other hand, and  
pulled her closer. She ducked her head, and Tenchi had a feeling  
that if she was not covered in fur, she would be blushing. The boy  
certainly was. He leaned forward and whispered something into one  
of her large furry ears. Whatever it was he said. It caused her to  
look up, an expression of incredulous surprise on her face. He took  
advantage of her upturned face, and as the image faded away, their  
faces came together in a tender kiss.  
  
Another scene.  
This time Ryo-oh-ki was laying in a bed. Her facial fur was  
wet and bedraggled, and there was a look of profound weariness on  
her face, but it was eclipsed by the look of joy that was there as well.  
A look that was shared by the boy, now a man, as he looked down at  
the small bundle held protectively in Ryo-oh-ki's arms. He leaned  
forward, resting his hands on the bedframe. Once again, they  
kissed. This time not the hesitant kiss of a pair of teenagers, but in  
the practiced manner of a pair of adults who still loved each other  
even after the novelty had long since worn off.  
  
The images sped up.  
Ryo-oh-ki with a small child on her lap, then once again in bed  
with a bundle in her arms, this time with a toddler standing by the  
bed, looking at his/her new sibling. The children grew, got older,  
and were eventually joined by a third, who also grew older.  
Eventually it could be seen that the children were two boys, and a  
little girl. They grew older still, into adults. The man now had  
silver in his hair, but Ryo-oh-ki looked no older than her daughter.  
  
Soon there was a new child, not Ryo-oh-ki's this time. Rather,  
this new bundle was held in the arms of a strange girl, while the  
older boy, now also a man hovered over her, his hands held out as if  
ready to catch her if she should fall. His expression one of stupefied  
wonder. Not unlike the one his own father had worn when he had  
first seen him laying in Ryo-oh-ki's arms.  
  
Scene after scene followed, clicking like slides in a slide show,  
barely giving the watchers time to register the children growing up,  
the man growing older. Then, they stopped. Ryo-oh-ki stood in  
front of a soft mound of dirt, her children and grandchildren around  
her. Tears rolled down her furry face, and dripped to the ground.  
Tenchi felt his heart ache, and became aware that not just sight was  
being used by Funaho. He could feel the deep pain coming from all  
the people in front of him, pain that resonated all too familiarly in  
his own heart. "Mom" he whispered, as tears welled up from his  
eyes, and ran down his face in a steady stream.  
  
The next scene flared up in a burst of light, flames crackling all  
around them. Horses with armored riders flashed by. Swords  
gleamed red, the flames reflecting from their blades, then it was a  
different sort of red that shone on those deadly blades, one that  
gleamed wet in the flickering light.  
Into this hell, Ryo-oh-ki stumbled, her mouth working as she  
cried out silently. Tenchi saw her pause, a look of agony on her face.  
She fell to her knees, and grasped a fallen figure to her breast. Tears  
streamed from her face again, but this time her expression was not  
one of pain, but of fury. Tenchi watched as the scene shifted, and  
Ryo-oh-ki was standing in front of the same mound of dirt as before,  
now covered with grass and flowers. Beside it was a fresh mound, a  
shovel laying beside it. Ryo-oh-ki's clothing was covered in mud,  
but she looked like a queen as she stood there, looking down at the  
new grave.  
Ryo-oh-ki raised her head to the heavens, and her mouth  
opened in a scream of pure rage, and she changed. The mud  
spattered, clothing was ripped to shreds as something dark and  
crystalline came into being where she had been standing. The  
gleaming conglomeration of crystal spires rocketed into the heavens,  
and Tenchi felt a shiver of fear for the people who had caused this  
transformation.  
  
Bright sunlight caused Tenchi's eyes to blink. It took a second,  
so strong had the images been, for him to realize that they were once  
again standing beside Funaho, and that this particular memory was  
finished. Tenchi drew a deep breath, and wiped moisture from his  
eyes with the back of his hand. He was not the only one who had  
been strongly affected by the sights and feelings they had just  
witnessed. He heard soft sobbing, and turned to see Ayeka, kneeling  
on the ground, tears streaming down her face.  
There was a soft miyaa, and Tenchi looked over to see Ryo-oh-  
ki looking at Ayeka, her head cocked to one side. She hopped  
toward Ayeka, and reached the girl before Tenchi had time to think  
that this might not be a very good idea. He watched, holding his  
breath as Ryo-oh-ki placed her front paws on Ayeka's knee, and  
meowed plaintively. Tenchi edged closer, planning to grab the little  
cabbit away, but before he could reach her, Ayeka lifted her face  
from her hands, and looked down at the little creature leaning  
against her legs.  
  
Ayeka gave a small wail, and grabbed Ryo-oh-ki up into her  
arms. Holding her tightly, she cried out in a voice hoarse with  
sorrow. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, so very sorry." As Ayeka held Ryo-  
oh-ki tightly against her breast, much to the discomfort of the little  
cabbit, five days of suppressed grief came welling up out of the  
corner of her mind where she had shoved it aside.  
  
The bond between a ship of Jurai and its owner was a profound  
one. The loss of that bond was not something to be casually  
dismissed. Part of the training Ayeka had undergone to be allowed  
the bond, was the manner of dealing with the loss of it.  
Ayeka had not handled the loss of Ryuu-oh in the manner she  
had been trained to. She should have spent at least two days,  
preferable more, in meditation and solitude, coming to grips with her  
pain. Instead of facing that painful necessity, Ayeka had hidden  
behind what she told herself was Sasami and Ranma's need for her.  
So, while her outward appearance was one of calm control, inside,  
the pain she refused to deal with festered and grew.  
When Ryo-oh-ki hatched, the walls Ayeka had built around her  
grief were cracked as well. They were further breached when she  
saw Ranma's transformation into a feral creature, seemingly because  
of the same creature who had slain her beloved Ryuu-oh. Hatred had  
welled up in her for Ryo-oh-ki. Unreasoning and hot with her  
suppressed grief, she gave little thought or consideration to the fact  
that the little creature was but newly hatched. All that mattered was  
she was a symbol of all that was bad in Ayeka's life. Her brother  
leaving in pursuit of the pirate that had devastated her childhood  
home. Seven hundred years of fruitless searching, only to learn of  
Yosho's rumored death. The fact that her beloved had found a  
different love, someone other than her. The evidence of this love  
graphically represented by Tenchi and Ranma. Last, the destruction  
of her ship, and the stranding of herself and Sasami on this primitive  
planet. All this had conspired to make her a creature of vengeance.  
Then, she had witnessed the memories of the previous Ryo-oh-  
ki, and her own grief had resonated with the very similar pain  
experienced by that departed entity. That had finished the job that  
had begun with the current Ryo-oh-ki's appearance. All the grief  
she had bottled up till she had time to deal with it, broke free.  
Unrestrained, the pain over the loss of her beloved ship, along with  
the pain over the loss of her brother, either to death, or to another  
woman, threatened to wash Ayeka under in a flood of uncontrolled  
sorrow.  
Lost in her pain, she became aware of a haven of warmth, and  
she pushed herself up against it. A pair of arms folded loosely  
around her, and she pressed her face into the shoulder of the person  
holding her and cried for her loss.  
  
Tenchi flushed red as Ayeka pressed herself against him, but  
did not move except to adjust his arms so they were lightly cradling  
her as she cried out her grief onto his shoulder. Between their  
bodies, Ryo-oh-ki made little encouraging noises, trying as best as  
she could in her limited understanding to offer comfort. A  
movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to turn. His  
Grandfather and a worried Sasami stood there, taking in the scene.  
Tenchi blushed even deeper, and gestured with his eyes.  
Hoping his grandfather would take the hint, and come and offer  
Ayeka his shoulder. That's what priests did after all. Was it not?  
His grandfather just gave a small shake of his head, accompanied by  
a gentle smile. His eyes clearly said that Tenchi was doing just fine  
by himself.  
  
Tenchi was never sure how long he stood there, Ayeka loosely  
cradled in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder, her tears  
slowly turning his shirt into a sodden mass. Eventually it was an  
outside force that broke the tableau. A series of explosions, slowly  
moving toward them. A phenomenon that Tenchi was becoming far  
more familiar with than he cared to think about.  
Ayeka pulled her face away from his shoulder, and dabbed at  
her red-rimmed eyes with a cloth she pulled from the sleeve of her  
kimono. She glanced away from Tenchi and toward the rapidly  
approaching sound. As she looked off in the distance, she spoke  
softly. "I'm sorry Tenchi-sama. I apologize for the unforgivable  
way I've been behaving."  
Tenchi placed his left hand behind his head and looked  
sheepish. "That's all right Ayeka-sama." He hunted for words to try  
and ease the embarrassment they both felt over the recent incident,  
but was saved from the trouble when a familiar redheaded form came  
into view, dashing from the cover of the trees toward Tenchi. Close  
on her heals was the source of the explosions, more of which rocked  
the clearing as Ryouko tried to nail the fleet girl, who always seemed  
to be somewhere else when one of Ryouko's energy blasts struck  
home.  
The first thing that Tenchi noticed, after the explosions, was  
the state of Ranma's clothing. While she was slightly more modestly  
garbed than the last time she had appeared after a fight with Ryouko,  
it was not by much. Her pants and shirt were both tattered and  
singed, and barely preserved her modesty. He clapped a cautionary  
hand to his nose just in case. Ranma's clothing did not look like it  
was going to last much longer.  
Tenchi felt something being placed in his hand, and looked  
down for a moment in surprise. Ayeka closed his fingers over the  
haft of Yosho's sword with her own hand. Looking up at him with  
puffy eyes, she gave him a smile, and said. "Lord Tenchi, I ask that  
you please defend me and mine."  
Ayeka's statement had the feeling of some sort of formal  
request, and Tenchi knew there was more than likely a counter reply  
he was suppose to make to it, All he could think to do was to place  
the hand holding the sword behind his head, and give an  
embarrassed laugh, before saying, "I guess."  
Another explosion brought Tenchi's attention back to the  
matter at hand. Ranma had reached the edge of the pond  
surrounding Funaho. Instead of using the stones that were there for  
people to walk to the tree, she left the bank of the pond with a  
prodigious leap, and landed in front of Tenchi and Ayeka. Parts of  
her shirt choose to give up the fight at that point, falling aside to  
reveal what was underneath. Tenchi was barely able to take in the  
singed and tattered condition of her clothing, using all his willpower  
not to stare at what it was not covering. Ranma looked the very  
picture of a poor abused waif.  
Unfortunately for Ryouko, Tenchi's gaze did not manage to  
reach as far as Ranma's face. If it had, he might have noticed the  
look of unrestrained glee on her face. The flush on Tenchi's face  
changed from one of embarrassment to one of anger. Stepping  
forward, he placed himself between Ranma and the oncoming  
Ryouko. Without Tenchi even having to think about it, the sword in  
his hand sprang to life.  
  
Ryouko was furious. There was a vivid red spot directly  
between her eyes, and her face was twisted up in an angry  
expression. In one hand she held her sword, in the other, a ball of  
energy, ready to throw. "Get out of the way Tenchi. The ungrateful  
little tramp is mine."  
"Ungrateful!" Ranma yelled out from behind Tenchi. "What  
do I have to be grateful for? The only thing that I'm grateful for is  
that I woke up before you had a chance to do anything more to me,  
you pervert!"  
"Arrggghh," was Ryouko's intelligent reply to this, and she  
lunged forward in an effort to get around Tenchi and at the little  
redhead. She had long ago passed the point of considering tactics,  
and was in full bull-in-a-china-shop mode. There was a shrill squeal  
of sound that hurt the ears as Tenchi parried Ryouko's sword with  
his own. He was driven backward a step, but did not give any  
ground up after that.  
  
Of to the side Katsuhito raised an eye in surprise as he noticed  
the detached way Tenchi was handling the sword. For years he had  
been trying to teach Tenchi to make his weapon part of himself, but  
the boy had always been too self conscious. Tenchi had always been  
aware of the bokken in his hand, and tended to have to think of every  
move he wanted to make with it, which handicapped him a great  
deal.  
He was no longer thinking about his weapon. He moved it in a  
smooth pattern that told Katsuhito's trained eyes he was not even  
aware of it other than as a part of his own body. He smiled. Tenchi  
had just completed the first step toward becoming a true master of  
the sword.  
  
"Ryouko, stop it!" Tenchi snapped out, as he and the demon  
girl crossed swords once again. Ryouko tried to force her way  
forward, and Tenchi's arm gave under the pressure, but that only  
brought Ryouko close enough to the sword in his hand for it to react  
to her presence. Just as it had done in the school yard, it flared with  
energy, and moved on its own volition, shoving Ryouko back. She  
sprang away from Tenchi, her concentration broken.  
For the first time Ryouko took in the expression on Tenchi's  
face, and a stricken look crossed her own "But Tennnncccchhiiiii."  
She whined, stamping her foot for all the world like a four year old,  
denied a treat. The expression on Tenchi's face did not shift, nor did  
the sword in his hand lower.  
  
Behind Tenchi, Ranma smirked at Ryouko, and pulled down  
one eyelid, revealing the red skin on the underside of her lid. She  
stuck her tongue out as well. Ryouko flushed, and took a step  
forward, only to find it matched by Tenchi. She visibly simmered in  
rage, but gritting her teeth, she opened her hands and let her sword,  
and the ball of energy, wink out of sight.  
"Next time little girl, next time." Ryouko said to Ranma, who  
responded by turning her back and patting her bottom. Kiss my ass.  
She mouthed silently over her shoulder at Ryouko. Just then Ryo-  
oh-ki, who had been silent in Ayeka's arms while this was going on,  
grew impatient for someone to pay attention to her, the most  
important person here.  
"Meow!" She mewed loudly, and Ranma jumped out of her  
tattered slippers. The small girl practically levitated straight up into  
the branches of Funaho. A thrashing of branches marked her ascent  
to the very crown of the massive tree. She climbed until there was  
nothing left to climb, and then she huddled there, swaying back and  
forth on the last slender limb.  
"C . . . c . . .c . . . cat!" She stammered out in terror, curling up  
in as tight a ball as the situation would allow, burying her face in her  
arms.  
Down below the pretty much universal reaction was one of  
surprise, with the exception of Katsuhito, who looked worried, and  
also as if he were trying to recall something that was just on the edge  
of his memory.  
Ryouko's expression was as puzzled as the rest, but did not stay  
that way long. One did not become a dread space pirate, feared on  
countless worlds, but failing to take note of, and act on, an opponents  
weakness. Plucking Ryo-oh-ki from Ayeka's arms, she floated up  
level with the cowering girl, and leered at her.  
"Aww, Ranma, don't you want to pet the nice little kitty cat?"  
"Take it away, take it away!" Ranma screamed burrowing her  
face deeper into her sheltering arms.  
"Ryouko-san, you stop that!" Ayeka yelled impotently from  
below.  
"Ryouko, stop, don't tease Ranma!" Tenchi added, looking in  
fear at the way the branch Ranma was clinging to was swaying from  
Ranma's panicked efforts to turn away from Ryouko, and the  
nightmare she carried in her hand.  
Ryouko ignored them both, and floated over to where Ranma  
perched on her branch. Grabbing a good chunk of red hair in her  
hand, she pulled Ranma's head up out of her arms, and shoved Ryo-  
oh-ki to within inches of her face. "Yaaaaaaaaaa" Ranma screamed,  
and tried to get away, but Ryouko held her in place effortlessly. Ryo-  
oh-ki dangled from her hand, looking first at Ryouko, and then at  
the fearful Ranma.  
"Meow," she said in a sad tone, not understanding Ranma's  
rejection. Something in the tone of her voice made it past Ranma's  
defenses, because for the first time she really looked at Ryo-oh-ki.  
For a minute, her eyes remained panicked, but then a small amount  
of awareness trickled into her bulging orbs.  
"That's not a cat?" Ranma said in a halting questioning voice.  
"That ain't no cat!" She repeated, this time in a firmer voice. "What  
the heck is she?"  
Ryouko frowned as she detected that Ranma had returned to  
sanity, but then, shrugged her shoulders. The brief period of  
tormenting Ranma had restored much of her good mood, and she  
answered Ranma's question with only a hint of a snarl in her voice.  
"This is my little Ryo-oh-ki."  
"That ain't Ryo-oh-ki!" Ranma exclaimed. "Ryo-oh-ki's is  
human. Well sort of," She amended. "This thing is . . . What is that  
thing?" She repeated her earlier question.  
Down below Ayeka and Tenchi could just barely make out the  
conversation between Ranma and Ryouko. Tenchi yelled up at her.  
"It's true Ranma. We saw Ryo-oh-ki grow up in Funaho's memory.  
That is what she looked like when she hatched before, and then she  
turned into a person."  
Now it was Ryouko's turn to look puzzled. "Human?" she  
said, questioningly. "I've never known her to assume a human  
shape."  
"Well she does!" Ranma asserted. "I talked to her while you  
were attacking Ayeka's ship."  
"You talked to her?" Ryouko asked in evident surprise. For  
some reason she found this so surprising, she failed to react quickly  
enough when Ranma reached out with a shaking hand, and plucked  
Ryo-oh-ki from her grasp.  
"I promised her I'd be nice to her baby." Ranma said in a  
distracted way, not really aware of Ryouko anymore. Instead, all her  
attention was focused on the little bundle of fur that was happily  
curled up in the crook of her arm. "You are kind of cute," she said,  
poking the little cabbit in her furry belly. Ryo-oh-ki mewed, and  
batted at Ranma's finger. Ranma for her part shuddered, and fought  
the urge to fling her away. "Not a cat, not a cat," she said repeatedly  
for a few seconds, till she calmed down again. "Man. This is going  
to take some getting used to." With a hand that only quivered  
slightly, she handed Ryo-oh-ki back to Ryouko. "Here, you'd better  
take her. I ain't all that good at this mushy stuff."  
A shudder ran through her body when Ryouko took Ryo-oh-ki  
from her hand, and tension seemed to flow out of her body, as she  
exhaled a deep calming breath. Ranma started to climb down the  
tree, taking more care than was usual for her. When she reached the  
bottom, everyone was looking at her, and they all had questions in  
their eyes. Well, Tenchi's were a bit glazed rather than questioning.  
Ranma's clothing being in an even worse state of affairs than before.  
He hurriedly turned his back and unbuttoned his shirt. "Here," he  
said, having stripped the shirt from his back and held it back over  
his shoulder toward Ranma.  
"Thanks," she said. Taking Tenchi's shirt, Ranma put it on,  
and found it fell to just below her thighs, doing a fairly good job of  
covering the bits that Tenchi was finding so distressing. "I guess  
you must sort of be wondering what's going on?" Ranma said rather  
sheepishly. The look everyone gave her was a clear answer to her  
question. Giving a sigh, she said. "Well, it happened when I was  
about seven . . ."  
  
Over the next half hour, during which they walked toward  
home, Ranma told them the tale of the Cat Fist. About how her  
father had wrapped her in fish sausage, and tossed her in a pit of  
hungry cats. All to train her in the unbeatable style of the Neko-ken.  
During the explanation, Ranma would every now and then work her  
mouth, and spit toward the side of the path. Ayeka was distressed by  
this action, but refrained from saying something. She was not that  
fond of Genma herself, and if he had not driven her to spitting when  
talking about him . . . Well, she hadn't known him as long as  
Ranma had.  
  
When Ranma finished, the people around her had various  
expressions on their faces. Tenchi and Sasami wore looks of horror,  
mixed with sympathy. Katsuhito looked disgusted, and also  
satisfied, as if something that had puzzled him had been made clear.  
Ayeka looked furious, and was mouthing words like, Unfit . . . What  
father? . . . Outrageous, should be whipped.  
Ryouko looked bored.  
  
Their walking had brought them into sight of the house, and  
Ranma stopped in shock when she took note of the hole in the wall.  
"Oh man Tenchi!" She groaned in dismay. "I'm sorry, I don't know  
what I'm doing when I go . . . you know."  
"Crazy, nut bars, loose in the brain pan, a few bricks falling out  
of the wall?" Ryouko suggested.  
"Ryouko-san," Tenchi chided her half-heartedly, before turning  
to Ranma. "It's alright, we can fix it up." He turned to look at the  
damage, and his confident look slipped a little, "I think." He added  
under his breath.  
Ranma nodded her head, but she looked a little doubtful as she  
took in the sight of the damage. While contemplating it, she again  
turned her head to the side, and spat. This was too much for Ayeka.  
"Ranma-chan, please, that is most unladylike."  
Ranma looked at her a bit sheepishly, and then said. "I'm sorry  
Ayeka-san. I've got this really gross taste in my mouth."  
"Oh my," Sasami said, looking at Ryouko who had fallen to the  
ground in hysterics. "What's wrong with Ryouko-neechan?"  
  
Some time later, they sat enjoying tea. Ryouko occasionally  
directing a look toward Ranma and snickering, which made the  
redhead feel very uncomfortable. She was beginning to get a little  
worried about what Ryouko might have done to her while she was  
out. The rest of the group was simply sitting back and enjoying the  
rest after a hard two hours of clean up duty. All the splintered boards  
had been cleaned up, and piled neatly off to the side.  
  
Now, they sat in front of the hole, and enjoyed the afternoon  
sun as they ate the snacks Sasami had prepared. Licking a little  
sugar off of her fingers, Ryouko asked Ranma. "By the way, who  
was that purple haired chick who was planning on dividing you into  
equal parts?" She smirked at Ranma. "For someone who claims to  
be a guy, you sure don't seem to handle girls . . ."  
Ryouko trailed off as she noted that Ranma was not paying any  
attention to her, had in fact jumped to her feet and was now peering  
out at the surrounding trees, as if expecting something horrible to  
emerge from them at any time.  
"Shampoo," she said, just one word, but the look of dread on  
her face made it very clear she was not talking about hair care,  
despite the fact her own was in dire need of some.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
"This Shampoo sounds like an awfully poor loser." Tenchi said  
after listening to Ranma detail the reason for the Amazon's presence  
at the shrine. "I mean, trying to kill you just because you beat her in  
a challenge fight."  
"Yes, the Amazon's can be rather rigid in their observance of  
their law, but there was good reason for it at one time, or so our  
ancestor's papers tell us." Everyone looked over at Katsuhito who  
had spoken over the rim of his tea cup. He sat there, oblivious to the  
stares. His eyes were closed and to all intents and purposes he  
seemed to be doing nothing more than savoring the aroma of  
Sasami's excellent tea.  
"You know about the Amazons grandfather?" Tenchi asked in  
surprise. Ranma, remembering Katsuhito's familiarity with the  
Musk was not as surprised. Instead, she felt a surge of hope.  
Maybe Grandfather would know something that would get that crazy  
Amazon off her back.  
Katsuhito, opened his eyes, and took a long slow sip of his tea.  
Everyone at the table waited for him to talk, some with more  
patience than others. Ayeka appeared perfectly calm, while Ranma  
looked like she was ready to lunge across the table at him.  
Appearances could be deceiving, to Sasami's experienced eyes,  
Ayeka was every bit as impatient as Ranma, she was just better at  
hiding it.  
Ranma was just getting up from her kneeling position by the  
table, her face promising mayhem, when Katsuhito placed his cup  
down with a sigh of contentment, and started to speak. Ranma  
wavered, off balance, and finally fell over on her side, helped along  
by a subtle poke from Ryouko. Ranma glared at her, and she put on  
an innocent air, and gave the appearance of giving all her attention  
to Katsuhito.  
"You must understand a bit of their history." Katsuhito was  
saying. "It was originally possible for an outsider to challenge an  
Amazon to gain a position in the tribe. They wanted the best, and  
this was their way of selecting them, but that led to problems. Like  
all societies, there was a given limit to the number of warriors they  
could support. It takes a lot of farmers and craft men to support one  
person who does nothing but train for war."  
"Yea, but they sure are happy they're there when the shit hits  
the fan." Ranma said.  
"Yes, they are, but that does not change the fact that a village  
or a kingdom can only support so many. Some get around this by  
conquering other villages or nations. That works for a while. You  
gain slave labor, and can support more of your own people as  
warriors, but it is a losing proposition in the long run. You need to  
guard your conquest, and that takes more warriors, and then you  
need to take over another country, and another, until your own  
culture is eventually lost from the sheer number of those you share  
your land with. The mighty Mongols conquered all of China, and  
then were absorbed by that country's population. The Amazons  
valued their culture highly, and had no wish to dilute it. They were  
satisfied with what they had, and had no wish to gain more, only to  
defend what they already possessed."  
  
"A likely story," Ryouko snorted, "The Powers-that-be are  
always ready to throw away a few civilians to steal something that  
belongs to someone else. Of course they don't call it stealing."  
Ayeka smiled a thin tight lipped smile at Ryouko. "I'm sure  
you know all there is to know about stealing, but I know about rulers.  
The goal of a good ruler is the welfare of his people. But you would  
know nothing about the welfare of others. Would you?"  
Ryouko smiled at Ayeka, and there was more than a hint of  
teeth in her smile. "Ahh, the mythical _good_ ruler," she said,  
placing a great deal of stress on the word good. "And tell me  
_princess_ do you also believe in the Star-father, who brings presents  
to all the good little girls and boys at the end of every standard  
galactic year?"  
Ayeka smile grew tighter, and her teeth started to peep out  
from behind her pale lips. "At least I was a good little girl, and  
while it may have been my mother rather than the Star-father who  
left me presents, at least I got some. Did yours ever give you one?"  
Ayeka by now was leaning across the table, her nose nearly pressed  
against Ryouko's. Her teeth were now clearly visible as her lips  
pulled back in a snarl. "Or do monsters even have mothers?"  
  
Very much to Ranma and Tenchi's surprise, Ryouko did not  
have a quick come back to this comment. Rather, her face grew a  
bit pale, and her mouth gave up all pretense of smiling, as she bared  
her fangs fully at Ayeka. Ranma recognized the telltale signs, and  
when Ryouko lunged across the table with a scream of "Bitch!" she  
was ready.  
Down slapped Ranma's hand, hitting Ryouko's thigh, and  
slowing her leg's upward progress just enough that it caught on the  
edge of the table instead of going over it. Ryouko's arms  
windmilled, and she made a three-point landing on the table top, her  
face, which landed in a plate of tea cakes, being one of the points.  
Ayeka covered her mouth with her sleeve, and laughed  
unrestrainedly at the sight of Ryouko, her face covered with lemon  
filling. Things started to get out of control at about that point.  
  
Ranma grimaced, she had no objection to a good brawl, but  
Shampoo was out there somewhere, and that was not something she  
wanted to forget about. It would be just like that crazy girl to come  
bursting in while they were at each other throats.  
The problem was, while Ayeka might settle down if Ryouko  
did, there was no way in hell Ryouko was going to stop. The only  
one who seemed able to control her even a little when she was like  
this, was Tenchi, but only sometimes. Tenchi was alright when he  
thought Ryouko had done something bad, but when it came down to  
getting between Ayeka and Ryouko when they were both on a tear,  
he was pretty much useless . . . Unless . . . Ranma thought of  
something that might distract Ryouko. For a second she hesitated,  
her face tense, she was not sure if she really wanted to do it. Then,  
the sound of smashing furniture reached her ears, and reminded her  
all too much of the last time she had heard that sound. They had to  
get ready for Shampoo. This was no time to be a wimp. Ranma got  
to her feet, if she was going to do this, she was going to need some  
aids.  
  
Tenchi was nervously holding his sword in his hands, trying to  
figure out what to do. He wanted to stop the fight before it got  
serious, but he didn't want to hurt Ryouko's feelings by siding with  
Ayeka, who had after all goaded Ryouko into the current quarrel.  
On the other hand, he didn't want to side with Ryouko against  
Ayeka, not after just having gotten back in Ayeka's good books.  
It was so much easier when Ryouko was picking on Ranma.  
Despite her skill, Ranma was really too weak to defend herself  
against Ryouko. Only the Tenchi-ken gave Tenchi an edge against  
the demon girl. Ayeka was another matter. Despite her ladylike  
exterior she had proven herself able to go toe to toe with Ryouko.  
Tenchi sighed in despair. He did not want either one of the  
girls mad at him, but if he tried to break up this fight, he just knew  
that somehow they would both end up being furious with him.  
Tenchi felt someone take his hand, and he looked down in  
surprise. Ranma was standing there, a strange look of tension on her  
face. "Tenchi, why don't we go outside and take a walk, the . . ."  
Ranma paused, as if trying to think of something. Then, her face  
brightened. "The moon, the moon is so nice, lets go look at the  
moon." She started to drag Tenchi toward the door.  
"But, but, but." Tenchi stammered, trying to tell Ranma there  
was no moon tonight.  
Ranma stopped, and stared up at Tenchi, her eyes wide and  
glistening. A solitary tear trickled down her cheek. Unseen by  
Tenchi, Ranma let the cut onion in her hand drop to the floor behind  
her. "Tenchi, don't you want to go walking with me." All motion in  
the room stopped, heads turned toward the pair by the door. It was  
not what Ranma had said. It was the way she had said it. Her voice  
had been low and quivery. Straight out of a bad romance movie. The  
very sound of it was enough to send shivers up and down Tenchi's  
spine, and completely different feelings through Ryouko.  
"What!? What the hell are you trying to pull? You don't like  
guys. Remember?" Ryouko demanded, breaking off from Ayeka,  
and storming across the room toward the two of them.  
Ayeka called after her. "She is taking her innazuke, and getting  
away from a barbarian for a little privacy. I would have thought that  
was obvious, even to a creature like you."  
For her part, Ranma looked up at Ryouko with an innocent  
expression, and said. "Ayeka-san is right. We can't hear  
Grandfather over your noise, so I thought Tenchi and I could take a  
nice walk while you two settled your differences. And don't be silly.  
I'm a girl, so of course I like boys." Ranma added in a saccharin  
voice, taking Tenchi's arm and looping it through her own.  
Everyone was listening to her words, and except for Katsuhito, no  
one noticed the cute look on her face was taking on a strained  
expression.  
Ryouko snatched Tenchi away from Ranma, who barely  
controlled her look of relief, and dragged him over to the table.  
Looking back at Ranma defiantly, she said. "I'm all done with the  
chicken girl." Turning to Katsuhito, who had moved out of the way  
of any possible flying objects, or people, taking Sasami with him,  
she said. "Well, get on with it old man, we don't have all day."  
"Chicken girl!?" Ayeka said in outrage, but Ryouko merely  
snorted, and turned her head away from her. Ranma shrugged her  
shoulders, and came over and sat down in Tenchi's former place.  
Katsuhito, and Sasami joined them, and after a minute, a fuming  
Ayeka as well.  
"Now, where was I?" Katsuhito asked.  
"You were talking about how the Amazon did not invade others  
so they could support more warriors, and why that was a problem."  
Sasami answered him.  
"Ahh yes. Originally any woman who could prove herself a  
warrior could join the tribe. After a while they realized they had to  
limit the number, or exceed their ability to support the fighters who  
did not contribute to the day to day needs of the village. A number  
was established, and that was the limit. To become a warrior, you  
either had to wait for an opening, or defeat a warrior and take her  
place."  
"This was at first open to all. The Amazon elected to go for  
quality over quantity, and whoever proved themselves worthy could  
become an Amazon warrior. Any outsider woman could fight any  
warrior, and if she won, she would take that warrior's place. This  
led to resentment as people saw their friends and themselves being  
replaced by people from out of the village. Understand, in those days  
the Amazons were not the fighters they are now. It was common for  
a woman from outside to wander in and defeat a warrior. Such is no  
longer common. The Amazons have grown very formidable, but that  
was not the case back then.  
Eventually, politics got into the matter. The village warriors  
agitated to have the laws altered. Because they formed the largest  
power block in the tribe, they got their way. It was decided that the  
outsider had to prove her worth by defeating the Amazon not simply  
once, but as many times as it took for the warrior to concede defeat.  
But the elders didn't like being pushed around, and they added a  
little twist."  
"Let me guess, the kiss of death, right?" Ranma said.  
"That's right. The Amazon warrior found that they had to face  
a girl who had already beaten them once, and who knew she would  
die if she lost the rematch. Not a few Amazons choose to concede  
defeat, rather than take the risk."  
"Hey, wait a second." Ranma said. "Do you mean I'd have  
been free and clear if I'd beaten Shampoo a second time?"  
"Not exactly, while Shampoo could have conceded your  
superiority at anytime, even after the first defeat, and given up her  
position in the village to you, she could also have forced you to fight  
her to the death, either yours or hers no matter how many times you  
defeated her. If you had done that, you would have been offered her  
place in the tribe."  
  
"Hey, no problem then. Red can take her." Ryouko said  
cheerfully. "So tell me, would Red get all her property if she did for  
her?"  
"Hey, I ain't going to kill anyone!" said Ranma in outrage.  
Turning to Katsuhito, she said in a pleading tone of voice. "There's  
got to be someway, ain't there anyway to make her back off without  
killing her?"  
"If you could convince her you really are a boy that might  
help."  
"Why?" Sasami said.  
"Because if an Amazon is defeated by an outsider male, she has  
to marry him. Another way the elders came up with to improve the  
village blood line, and to keep the warrior's from picking fights  
casually with men from the neighboring kingdoms. Not a few border  
incidents escalated into serious wars before the new law was put in  
place."  
"What!?" Ranma yelled. "You mean if I get cured that crazy  
chick is going to try and marry me?"  
"She might, or she might decide you are really a girl, and try to  
kill you anyway. The fact that you might be a relative could help."  
"What?" Ranma said once again, beginning to sound not unlike  
a broken record.  
"Hey, that's right, she's one of Yosho's get as well," Ryouko  
said.  
"What?" Ayeka said, "You're lying!"  
"Fraid not princess. Yosho was a pretty frisky guy. No telling  
how many little surprises he left around for you to find."  
Ayeka flushed with outrage, but before she could retort.  
Katsuhito broke in. "Actually, while she _might_ be descended from  
Yosho, it was not Yosho who married into the Amazons, but a  
descendant of his." Ranma thought Katsuhito looked a bit  
uncomfortable as he said this, but the old mans face smoothed over  
quickly, and she decided it was likely just the light that made it seem  
that way.  
Ayeka looked mollified, but she continued to direct dirty looks  
toward Ryouko.  
"Anyway, there is not much we can do till we can talk to this  
Shampoo. Most of you should be safe. The Amazons consider it bad  
form to kill someone who is not their target."  
Ranma snorted, "yea, but the way she goes knocking walls in, I  
don't see how she can help but hurt someone. I'd better head out.  
I'll try to lead her away from here. Maybe I can talk to her now that  
I know about her maybe being family."  
  
Ranma was having a hard time grasping that Shampoo might  
be a relative. A week ago, she had been all alone in the world except  
for her Pop. Now, not only had she learned her mother was still  
alive, she had gained a large family in the form of Ayeka and her  
sister, and Tenchi and his family. To bad the connection was not  
closer however. It would have given her an out from marrying  
Tenchi. As always, she gave a little shudder at the thought.  
"If she believes you." Ryouko said, breaking Ranma out of her  
introspection. "That's a pretty old gag."  
"Out of the question." Ayeka said, vetoing the idea of Ranma  
going out to face this mad woman alone. "Kamidake and Asaka can  
guard the house. This barbarian will not get past them."  
Ryouko laughed out loud, and looked over to where Kamidake  
was peeking around a corner at Ranma. "Oh yes, they're great  
guards. I feel _so_ secure knowing they're on the job."  
"Actually . . . they might be a big help." Ranma said, a  
speculative look on her face. Asaka pulled himself up a bit  
straighter, the distance between his bottom and the floor increasing.  
For his part, Kamidake seemed to radiate surprise at Ranma's  
defense of their fighting skills. "They might be pretty lousy  
fighters," The two guardians sagged, sweat drops dripping from their  
heads. "But Shampoo doesn't know about them. So they might be  
able to take her by surprise."  
"Very well, let us make plans then." Ayeka said.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
"Where the hell is she!?" Ranma yelled in frustration,  
marching over to the sliding porch door, and looking out across the  
dark valley.  
"Maybe she is waiting to catch you alone?" Ayeka said as she  
came over to join Ranma.  
Ranma snorted. "Not bloody likely. Shampoo isn't like that.  
She never let crowds or anything else stand between her and me  
before."  
Ayeka seemed to be having an internal struggle of some kind,  
but at last she spoke, each word spoken as if drawn forth by torture.  
"Ryouko . . . is . . . formidable. It is possible this Shampoo realized  
what she was up against, and --"  
"No! No way, not Shampoo, you don't know her, she'd no  
more back off than I would. She'll be here. You just wait."  
  
Behind the two girls Tenchi was putting the final touches to the  
house's defenses. All the furniture in the room had been  
repositioned near the outside walls, leaving the main floor clear. As  
well, rope had been strung from the walls to form a network of  
strands between the furniture. If Shampoo came through the wall  
like Ranma expected, she would find herself in a cluttered and  
enclosed area, and hopefully Ayeka could seal her up before she got  
her bearings. This was a last ditch effort however. Kamidake and  
Asaka were positioned on either side of the house. Far enough away  
so that they could observe every approach. Ryouko was sitting on the  
roof. Ranma would have preferred to have taken a forward position  
herself, but she realized she was the bait in the trap.  
Grandfather and Sasami were sitting in front of the TV,  
watching the nightly news, while playing with Ryo-oh-ki. Tenchi  
had protested Sasami's presence, but had been swayed by the  
argument that the safest place for her was right where she was.  
Alone in her room she was vulnerable, and while Ranma insisted  
Shampoo would not take a hostage, Ayeka had felt it better to take  
no chances.  
  
Over by the door, Ranma was watching the darkening ground  
intently, as if by looking hard enough she could cause Shampoo to  
materialize. She kept darting glances toward the girl standing  
beside her, a troubled look on her face. "Ayeka-san?"  
"Yes Ranma-chan?"  
Ranma winced, but then went on. "I just wanted . . . Well I just  
wanted to say I'm sorry I was such a pain earlier this week."  
Ayeka looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"  
"You know. The way I followed you around, not giving you  
any privacy. I was acting like a little kid."  
Ayeka remembered back to the night and day after the incident  
in the bathroom. Ranma had literally not wanted to let Ayeka out of  
her sight. Not an unexpected reaction given what had happened to  
her, and how poorly her father had prepared her for it. She must  
have felt her body had become a time bomb, and Ayeka the only one  
who could defuse it. She smiled at Ranma, and said, "I didn't mind.  
It helped to take my mind off my own problems."  
"Yea, well, I want you to know. I ain't usually like that. I've  
been taking care of myself for a long time."  
"But it's nice isn't it?" Ayeka said, and when Ranma gave her  
a puzzled look, she continued. "To have someone look after you I  
mean." Her gaze seemed to drift away. "I can remember being sick  
in bed, and momm . . . mother, bringing me hot soup, and reading  
to me while I lay there, all curled up in a nest of blankets. I felt so  
safe and protected. There are times when I wish I could go back to  
those days. Everything was so much simpler then."  
"Your mother, was she nice?" Ranma asked, a look of longing  
in her eyes.  
"Very. She loved me and Sasami very much. You would have  
liked her."  
"I would have?"  
"Oh yes, you have a lot in common with her. Not that anyone  
would ever guess it, but mother is a very great warrior."  
"She is? But she's a queen."  
Ayeka laughed. "She wasn't born a queen, and even if she had  
been, what would that have to do with it."  
"Well, queens, don't, you know, they just sort of sit around and,  
people do stuff for them. Don't they have people to fight for them?"  
"And what happens if whoever is attacking gets past those  
people. The worst thing about being a member of the royal family, is  
that most of the attacks on you do not come in the light. The dagger  
in the dark, poison in the tea. A pillow in the bed."  
Ranma was looking at her wide-eyed. "Man, that sounds like a  
crummy way to grow up, always having to look out for a knife in the  
back."  
"No, no, I don't mean that is how I was raised, but my family is  
very old, with long memories. History repeats itself, and we are  
trained to defend ourselves. We are our own last line of defense."  
"So do you practice martial arts?" Ranma asked, her interest  
peaked, Ayeka did not carry herself like a martial artist, but that  
might be a deliberate act, to hide what she was.  
Ayeka shook her head. "No, not the way you mean it." A small  
version of the guardian logs appeared in front of her, and she held  
out her hand so it floated down into her palm. "I know how you feel  
about weapons, but mine can't be lost, or taken from me. Still,  
maybe I rely on them to much." Ayeka banished the small log, and  
turned to look at Ranma. "Would you like to teach me?"  
Ranma looked surprised, but then she smiled. "Think you got  
what it takes? It ain't exactly easy."  
"There is only one way to find out, but that can wait, right now  
we need to discuss other matters."  
"Yeah, Shampoo. Where the hell is she?"  
"No, not Shampoo, you, and what you are going to wear  
tomorrow."  
"What?" Ranma looked at Ayeka, a puzzled expression on her  
face at this abrupt change of topic. Ayeka returned the look with a  
much more calculated one, running her eyes up and down Ranma's  
current outfit, which consisted of a pair of black pants held together  
more by prayer than fabric, and the shirt Tenchi had given her  
earlier.  
"You have not been gentle on your clothing. From what I saw  
of your wardrobe, you have next to nothing to wear."  
"This ain't the time to be talking about clothes." Ranma  
objected.  
"Perhaps you are right, you can wear some of mine until we can  
get you some of your own."  
Forgetting she didn't want to talk about clothes, Ranma  
objected to this. "I can't wear your clothes. They're girls' clothes."  
"Why, you know, I do think you are right." Ayeka smiled at  
Ranma, and then looked away, a gentle smile on her face.  
Ranma, flushed slightly, and said. "All, right, so maybe that  
was a dumb thing to say, but I still can't wear your clothes."  
"You already have."  
Ranma looked puzzled for a second, but then went cherry red,  
and sputtered a protest. "That was different, I had to wear those,  
boxers wouldn't hold the pad in place." Ranma's voice had dropped  
to a whisper, and she looked over to where Tenchi had joined Sasami  
and Katsuhito. "Don't say things like that out loud." She hissed at  
Ayeka.  
"And when the next time comes that you don't have a choice?"  
Ayeka questioned, lowering her voice a little.  
Ranma suddenly looked sick. "You mean this body is going to  
do more weird things?"  
"No of course not." Ayeka replied. "It won't do one single  
weird thing." Ranma heaved a sigh of relief, but her relief was short  
lived.  
"Everything it does will be perfectly natural; for a woman."  
Ranma looked shocked, but then she whispered furiously to  
Ayeka. "I ain't a woman. I'm a guy."  
"No! You are not!" Ayeka said in a fierce tone of voice.  
Ranma looked at her in shock, she was sure Ayeka had accepted the  
truth about her. As if reading her mind, Ayeka continued. "You may  
once have been a boy. I don't know, and it does not matter. Right  
now you are a young woman, and we have no idea of when that  
might change, or if it ever will."  
"So, am I suppose to dress up in frilly clothes, and flutter my  
eyelids at all the pervert boys." Ranma retorted in an angry voice.  
"Does Ryouko dress frilly? Do I flutter my eyes? Being a  
woman is much more than how you dress or how you behave. If you  
wish to continue to dress as you have, we will somehow acquire  
clothes for you. Maybe Tenchi has some clothes from when he was  
younger we can alter to fit you. I don't care if you act like a girl."  
Ayeka lied, "but you must accept that at this time you are a girl.  
There is so much you do not know."  
Ayeka looked over at where the others were sitting. "Please, all  
that I ask is that you let me try and teach you to understand your own  
body. Isn't that what marital arts is all about?"  
Ranma looked at her wide eyed, her first impulse, to hotly deny  
Ayeka's words died in her throat. She looked away from Ayeka's  
eyes, so like the ones she'd seen in the mirror every day since that  
day in China. A visible reminder of the relationship between her  
and the princess. "Alright, but only stuff about my body. I ain't  
putting stuff on my face or kissing boys or nothing like that."  
Ayeka smiled. Ranma had left a great deal open in her  
statement. The proper clothing for instance was an important part of  
looking after her body. She once again felt a sense of anticipation  
when she thought of the package Tenchi's father was picking up for  
her. "That will be fine," she said to Ranma, who looked at her with  
an expression of doubt on her face. There was something about the  
way Ayeka was smiling at her that made her feel very nervous.  
  
  
"Ranma, Ranma-neechan!"  
Ranma looked across the room to see both Tenchi and Sasami  
gesturing at Ayeka and her, wildly, pointing at the TV set.  
"It's her, the girl, Shampoo!" Tenchi yelled across at Ranma.  
"What?" Ranma yelled, sprinting across the room to stand in  
front of the TV. Sure enough, there in grainy black and white was  
Shampoo. She was holding a familiar sword under the chin of a  
weasely looking man. He did not seem to find the fact the sword was  
missing about ten inches from its tip very reassuring, if the sweat on  
his face was any indication. Ranma listened to what the news reader  
was saying.  
"The pilot of the small hijacked plane was known to police.  
Unconfirmed sources inform us he was being investigated for flying  
contraband into China. Speculation is that it might be a rival gang  
involved in the highjacking. As of yet, the woman in the security  
video has not been identified."  
The news reader went on to another story, and Ranma turned to  
look at the others, a look of frustration on her face. "What the hell  
was that all about?"  
Tenchi hurried to fill in the blanks. "A small plane and its  
pilot were hijacked from an airport near here. They caught the  
hijacker on video tape. It was Shampoo wasn't it?"  
"Sure, but what the hell is she up to."  
"Going back to China."  
Everyone turned to look at Katsuhito. "What do you mean?"  
Ranma asked.  
"You heard the story. The pilot is suspected of flying illegally  
into China. Amazon's might appear reckless, but they are born and  
bred to be fighters, and a good fighter always knows where the back  
door is. My guess is that plane and pilot were Shampoo's back door  
in case it was needed."  
"No way." Ranma murmured in a faint voice. She looked as if  
one of the main pillars of her world view had been knocked out from  
under her. "Shampoo ran away?"  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
"Ryouko? Yo, Ryouko, you up here?" Ranma called out while  
standing on the roof in a defensive crouch. She didn't trust the  
mummy not to try something perverted. Frankly, she would have  
just as soon let her stay up here all night, but Tenchi had asked her.  
Trying to watch both ways at once, Ranma worked her way  
down the roof peak, trying to pick out Ryouko's form in the  
darkness. "Where is she?" Ranma muttered to herself. A familiar  
sound reached her ears, and she gave a grimace of disgust. Looking  
around the chimney, she saw that sure enough, Ryouko was fast  
asleep. She was laying along the peak of the roof. Her head propped  
up on hand, her elbow resting on the roof.  
"Shit, and she had the nerve to bad mouth Kamidake and  
Asaka." Ranma said. "I bet she went out five minutes after coming  
up here. She's as lazy as Pop. Well, if she likes sleeping up here so  
much, I'll just let her catch her beauty sleep. Lord knows she needs  
it." Ranma watched Ryouko carefully, and the sleeping girl did not  
even twitch. "Hmph, guess she really is out of it." Ranma turned to  
leave, but a sudden thought caused her to turn back around. She  
eyed the arm Ryouko was holding her head up with. A speculative  
gleam filled her eyes, and she drew back her foot.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
Tenchi heard a sudden loud bumping, and looked up toward the  
ceiling where the noise seemed to be coming from. His head moved  
as his ears followed the noise as it progressed down the roof toward  
the back of the house. Just at the point where whatever was making  
the noise reached the edge of the roof, there was a yell in an all  
together too familiar voice, and then, a loud crashing sound as  
something, or someone, and Tenchi had a very good idea who,  
crashed into the bushes that lined the back of the house.  
A laugh behind him caused him to turn around to see Ranma  
walking into the house. A cat-eating-the-canary smile on her face.  
"What happened? What was that noise?" Tenchi asked,  
dreading the answer.  
"Oh Ryouko fell asleep on watch, and when I woke her up, she  
lost her balance."  
Tenchi grimaced, he really wished Ranma wouldn't aggravate  
Ryouko. He opened his mouth to say this, when Ranma put her  
hands behind her back and stretched.  
"Man, it's been a long day," she said. "I'm about ready to  
catch some sleep. Yo? Tenchi? What's wrong with you?"  
"Nothing." Tenchi mumbled, his back turned toward Ranma,  
and his hand holding his nose. Ranma was still wearing his shirt,  
and the buttons really did not hold the front together that well, as her  
stretch had proven very graphically.  
"Ranma!" Ayeka said in an annoyed tone from across the  
room. "You really should be more careful. Tenchi-sama may be  
your iinazuke, but you should behave more modestly around him."  
"Huu," Ranma grunted, then looked down at her exposed front.  
"Oh, sorry," she said with a shrug, which did interesting things to  
her upper body. Fortunately for Tenchi, his back was still turned  
toward her.  
"Meow"  
Ranma stiffened, a shudder running through her body. Then,  
she visibly forced herself to relax. "Man kid," she said. "I'll sure be  
glad when you grow out of that body." Ranma turned, a strained  
smile on her face. The smile vanished as she saw not the expected  
cabbit, but a small black cat with a bell around her neck.  
"C...c...c...cat!" Ranma shrieked.  
  
Tenchi turned around at the first stuttered c, and was just in  
time to catch Ranma, as she jumped into his arms, and wrapped her  
arms around his head in a panic. Tenchi resisted for a minute, then  
he keeled over, a strange expression on his face. Having lost that  
refuge, Ranma raced from the room, the black cat in full pursuit.  
  
*******************************************************  
***********************  
  
Noboyuki Masaki was feeling more than a little weary, and a  
bit lonely. It had been a long day, and doing the commute home  
alone was strange. He had gotten use to Genma's company, and was  
surprised to find himself missing it. "Oh well," he told himself,  
"you're just going to have to get use to going to work by yourself  
again." He shifted the large, brown-paper bag he was carrying in one  
hand, to the other hand, and kept putting one foot in front of the  
other.  
  
Noboyuki, crested the last hill, and stopped at the top of the  
ridge as he usually did to look out over the valley that was the new  
site of his home. It was, as always, a beautiful sight. The stars and  
moon overhead reflected of the symmetrical lake in front of the  
house, and the combined light reflected off his home, giving the  
whole setting a fairy tale quality. Not inappropriate considering his  
house guests.  
He suddenly frowned as he noticed something was wrong with  
the familiar picture. The house was not quite right. From this  
distance, in the dim light from the night sky, he could not quite  
make out what was wrong, but something was most definitely  
unusual. He stepped out on the path, and all trace of lethargy  
vanished as he hurried toward home.  
  
Noboyuki pulled up, and stared in shock at the house. It looked  
. . . melted. As if the lower walls had not been able to fully support  
the upper half, and it had slumped down on itself. Eyes glazed, he  
shuffled toward the house. As he got closer, he could see that the  
remains of the lower walls scattered all around the remaining bits of  
the house, they looked like so much wood shavings. Only the few  
scattered bits and pieces that still retained their shape gave away  
what they had once been.  
  
Noboyuki reached the outside wall, and stood staring at the  
window in front of him, the window that used to grace one of the  
upstairs rooms, and which now graced the same room, but on a  
slightly lower level.  
"My house." Noboyuki almost whimpered. Leaning forward,  
he stuck his head in through the window, and surveyed the room on  
the other side. The look of shock on his face disappeared, to be  
replaced by another look of shock, but this one of the utmost  
pleasure.  
Looking up at the stars, he murmured in a voice filled with  
barely restrained glee. "Oh my darling, if you could only see your  
son now." Tears ran down his face, as he tried to figure out where  
his video camera was in the newly remodeled house.  
  
A few minutes later, Noboyuki was looking through the  
viewfinder at the scene that had made him forget totally the  
destruction of his house. There was Tenchi, laying on a futon.  
Beside him, her head resting on his chest, was the cyan-haired girl  
Ryouko. On a futon next to Tenchi, lay the Princess, Ayeka, her  
sister Sasami cuddled up against her.  
Best of all however, was the last female guest. Between Ayeka  
and Tenchi, the form of Ranma was curled up, her head laying on  
Tenchi's chest, inches from Ryouko's, some sort of stuffed animal  
cradled in her arms.  
And just to make Noboyuki's life complete, all Ranma seemed  
to be wearing was one of Tenchi's shirts, which had a very shredded  
quality to it.  
"What a man. You would be so proud of him if you could see  
him now dear," Noboyuki blubbered. Then, he got down to the  
serious business of recording his son's manliness for posterity.  
  
Somewhere in the rubble, the TV set, which had miraculously  
survived the house's destruction, droned on. It went unheard by the  
sleeping people, and ignored by Nobuyuki, who had far more  
important matters on his mind.  
  
"Hey panda fans, this just in, our mysterious wanderer has  
made a reappearance after going missing for two weeks. He was  
seen in the Nerima ward just hours ago. No sign of his cute sidekick  
however. Sorry boys."  
  
Well, that wraps up another chapter of TARTF.  
Sorry I've been so long. Real life sort of stomped on my free  
time.  
  
If you enjoyed this story, be sure to catch, Ryouga Hibiki, Lost  
is Space.  
The companion story to this.  
It can be found at most of the nice people's sites that carry  
TARTF.  
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/  
http://members.xoom.com/gensao/  
http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/thunder/181/ccc.html  
http://home.one.net/~gorlando/Anime/index.html  
  
As always, comments or death threats accepted gladly, Comments  
being the more welcome.  
  
Your remarks matter. If you dislike something, or would like to see  
something happen, let me know.  
I can't promise I'll use your idea, but it will go into the mess that is  
my mind, and who knows what might come out.  
  
Many thanks to my various pre-readers, who gentle ways with the  
cattle prods keep me motivated.  
And a special thanks to Wade Tritschler. If it were not for him, it is  
very unlikely I would be able to write with even as little ability as I  
do.  
So now you know who to blame.^_^  
Please check out Wade's home page at  
http://www.mala.bc.ca/~tritscwa  
He has some very good stories there.  
  
And last, I'd like to thank all the people who took the time to  
write, and kick me in the ass. Without your encouragement, this  
would not have been out even this fast.  
  
Next Chapter: A bit of a departure. We leave Ranma and the gang,  
and snoop into what Nodoka, and her two tag along are up to.  
Join us for.Three girls? Take a trip.  
  
Then, another chapter of Ryouga Hibiki, Lost in Space, will be  
winging its way toward you.  
  
Ryouga, Lost in the land with no stars.  
  
And then, finally we will be rejoining Tenchi and Ranma, and all the  
gang as they head out for a nice relaxing, low key, visit to the hot  
spring, and Ranma gets a new wardrobe.  
  
T.H. Tiger,  
schell@interlog.com  
  



	5. Default Chapter Title

A fan fiction based on the works of RumikoTakahashi,  
creator of Ranma 1/2, and, Masaki Kajishima, who I've been  
told is the creator of Tenchi. Hitoshi Okuda, is the artist and  
creator of the Tenchi Manga.  
Go figure.  
I have no rights to these characters. Which should come as no  
surprise to anyone.  
  
Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!? Chapter seven.  
China Girls , or  
Mother, Chef, and Violence. Part one  
  
What's going on?  
This is an alternative universe story.  
Ranma was trapped as a girl from her first dip in the  
Nanniichuan.  
  
Why? Read the earlier chapters of Tenchi and Ranma,  
Together Forever!?. See below for some highlights.  
  
Unable to carry out his plan to engage Ranma to one of the  
Tendo girls, Genma recalled that he had once promised Nobuyuki  
Masaki that if he ever had a daughter, he would marry her to  
Nobuyuki's son Tenchi. Well, as it so happens, Genma has recently  
acquired a daughter.  
  
Nodoka Saotome, along with Akane Tendo and Ukyou Kuonji  
are on their way to Jusenkyo in hopes of finding out what has  
happened to Ranma and Genma who are three months overdue. At  
least Nodoka and Ukyou are. Akane just wants to get out of the  
house for the summer before her father sinks the place with his  
tears. Not to mention escaping from the constant combat zone her  
life has become due to a certain Kendoist, and her father's perverted  
Master.  
  
Big thanks to the people who contributed C+C to this, their  
help has been greatly appreciated.  
Pieter Thomassen  
Jeffrey Hosmer  
Thiemo Gunther  
Matthew Campbell, who didn't let me get away with anything,  
and I thank him for it.  
And of course all the rest of the usual suspects.  
Jim, Eimii, and Wade, who have much to do with getting me  
to the point I am at as far as my skills as a writer go.  
Last, but not in the least, least, Green eyes, who's cheerleading  
has got me through many a dry spell.  
  
If you have not read my TARTF side story featuring Ryouga in  
Space, I recommend you do so before reading this.  
  
T.H. Tiger  
schell@interlog.com  
  
Space is big. That may seem a trite statement, but the problem  
is that the vocabulary of planet-born peoples simply can't cope with  
the sheer scope of space. Oh, they will spout off knowledgeably  
about light years, and parsecs, but in the end, those words do not  
truly convey that which is space.  
  
By the time a race evolves to the point where they can truly  
sum up all that is space in a few simply words, they have become so  
insufferably smug that all the other people in the galaxy have long  
since stopped listening to them. As a result, there are no words  
other then the mundane ones used by planet bound people to  
describe how bleeding big space is.  
  
You would think therefore that the chances of two or more  
spaceships running into each other in this massive void would be so  
slim as to be not worth calculating the odds. If you believe this you  
have not often visited Jurai system 0315, or for that matter any  
other area that has for any length of time been the territory a certain  
Galaxy police detective has made her home.  
  
Currently, two small, small being a relative term of course,  
space ships, were making their way toward the outskirts of said area  
0315. On board the trailing member of the small convoy, the  
captain, and sole occupant was not happy.  
  
Agent P, special investigator for Jurai security, currently on  
detached duty, looked at the blank sensor screens in front of him,  
and felt like cursing. So he did. His carefully laid plans to catch the  
kidnappers who had shanghaied his young charge looked like they  
were going to come to nothing. He had been sure that they would  
try to recover him in order to cover their tracks, but such did not  
look to be the case. Which meant that he had wasted the better part  
of a week on a wild goose chase.  
  
Having turned the small cabin of his ship blue for a length of  
time sufficient to some what relieve his feelings, he pressed an  
intercom button. The central most screen in front of him came to  
life with the image of a human, a young male of the species. He  
was clad in a galaxy police issue coverall, but had his black shaggy  
hair held back by a non-regulation black checked, yellow bandana.  
He looked startled for a second, and then smiled at the screen,  
revealing canines that were in general more pronounced then was  
usual for his particular species.  
  
"Agent P, what is it?" He asked, and then in a hopeful voice,  
added, "Are we almost home?"  
"Should be there in a half a day at this rate." The captain of the  
other ship assured him. The young man's face took on a relieved  
look, and the sudden absence of stress lines on his face revealed just  
how much strain he was under. Agent P well understood his  
feelings. The boy was not used to space travel, and was especially  
not use to being confined to a small area for such a long period.  
While he had tried to put up a brave front, P was familiar enough  
with primate humanoids to decipher the claustrophobia that lurked  
just beneath the surface of his companions mind. Some of P's  
disappointment disappeared in the face of the boy's obvious  
pleasure. The trip had not been a total waste, not as far as the boy  
was concerned anyway.  
  
"I'll sure be glad to see home again it's been so ---" The boy's  
words were suddenly cut off as the screen his face was on dissolved  
into static. At the same time warning sirens started howling in the  
captain's cabin.  
  
The calm and detached voice of the ship's computer began to  
speak, giving details to explain the warnings. "Caution, proximity  
alert. Ship exiting hyper space in close proximity. Danger."  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"Scanning alien vessel . . . Scan complete. Ship identified."  
  
"Well, don't keep it to yourself."  
  
"Craft is that of most wanted criminal, Kagato, the Soja."  
  
"Crap on a stick!"  
  
"Warning, extreme danger, automatic evasive maneuvers  
begun."  
  
"Quit stating the obvious. Can we make it?"  
  
"Warning, time not sufficient. Soja's deflector array will  
impact on us in thirty three point five seconds."  
  
"Shit."  
  
"Initiating emergency protocols."  
  
While the computer and himself had been speaking, agent P  
had been doing his best to override the interference that was cutting  
him off from the craft the young boy was on, to no avail.  
He was still frantically working controls when several large valves  
opened, and a pale blue fluid began to flow into the small cabin  
with enough force to shatter the instrument screens. Instinctively,  
agent P held his breath when the liquid filled all the available space.  
He ruthlessly overrode those instincts, and took a deep breath,  
drawing the liquid deep into his lungs.  
A sensation of drowning filled him, and he had to fight to  
control himself. He continued to make normal breathing motions,  
and eventually his body accepted that he was not drowning. The  
oxygen saturated liquid supplied all the oxygen that was necessary  
to keep him alive. It also provided a large level of protection  
against sudden deceleration. The type that happens when a small,  
fast moving object, runs into a large, slow moving one.  
  
Agent P had time to think, 'I'm sorry boy,' and then the  
emergency jump feature cut in, and the main life support module of  
his ship vanished, leaving behind a gutted hulk that an instant later  
shattered into atoms as the Soja's deflector screens ripped it apart.  
  
Several miles away, the small auto courier ship agent P had  
been following, the one with the young boy on board, was struck a  
glancing blow by the trailing edge of Soja's deflector screen. It  
went spinning through space, shedding bits of its superstructure as it  
did so.  
  
Inside the ship, the lone passenger was thrown around his  
room as the inertial stabilizers failed under the heavy load. Seen  
from the outside, large dents began to appear in the hull adjacent to  
his cabin. The AI in control of the ship tried to compensate, but it  
was a losing battle. Power relays failed under the load. Bus bars  
glowed incandescent, before exploding into a blinding cloud of  
molten metal. The ship began to break up, and in the boys cabin,  
several of the large indentations in the hull ripped, spilling the  
precious air inside, out into the void.  
  
Ryouga Hibiki felt the air sucked from his lungs, and they  
burned with the need for oxygen, but that pain was as nothing  
compared to the pain that filled the rest of his body. He felt like he  
was on fire, like he was freezing, like he was about to blow up, like  
he was about to be squeezed into a small lump, and all at the same  
time. His brain tried to make sense of the messages Ryouga's body  
was sending him, but was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity and  
complexity of what was happening. It grasped at one basic fact, at  
one fundamental truth, and as the hull around him exploded  
outward he screamed it at the silent star studded blackness of space.  
  
  
In space they say, no one can hear you scream. This is not  
entirely true. It comes down to what you are using to scream, and  
what that 'one', is using for ears.  
  
MIB headquarters, New York, New York.  
  
Agent J, a tall thin black man, dressed in a black on black suit,  
turned his head to the side and looked at the six inch long quivering  
shard of black crystal that had just shaved a neat furrow in his  
closely cut black hair. The part of his mind that was still rational,  
idly noted that the crystal was imbedded several inches into the dura  
steel bulkhead that he was currently leaning against, and that dura  
steel was in general much tougher then the average human head.  
The rest of his mind then went, "huma a huma a huma," and his  
long legs slowly folded up till he was sitting on the floor.  
  
Agent J became aware of a voice speaking to him, and he  
looked up to see a tall icy blond in a black suit very similar to his  
standing over him. Her mouth was moving, and from this he  
assumed that the voice he was hearing was hers. He focused. "J! J!  
Are you all right?" The woman's hands reached out and gingerly  
fingered his scalp. Something that at most any other time would  
have been very welcome, but which drew no strong reaction from  
him for several minutes this time. It was only when she turned  
away and spoke that he began to regain some level of concentration.  
"It's all right, it only took off a bit of hair. He's fine as far as I can  
see."  
"Fine! Fine?" Agent J shouted, springing to his feet. "L, do  
you have any idea what it takes to get this level of perfection?" He  
cried, running his hand through his hair and wincing when it crossed  
the furrow the piece of crystal had left behind.  
"Eight fifty?" A voice answered from behind J, and he  
turned to scowl at his craggy faced partner, K, who had just walked  
up.  
"I wish. This cost me fifty big ones. Oh man," J moaned,  
trying to see himself in the shiny surface of the door, "and I had a  
date tonight too." His eyes suddenly fell on the cause of this whole  
situation, the black crystal shard. "Hey, what is this thing any way?  
I'd sort of like to know what almost did in my Mama's favorite  
boy."  
"That," growled a voice from the direction of the main floor,  
as Z, the director, made his presence known "Is the single largest  
remaining piece of what used to be the most expensive  
communications device in MIB central. An instantaneous  
communicator. And what I want to know is how the bloody blue  
blazes this happened."  
"It was an overload sir," L answered. "Some sort of signal  
came in that set up a dissonance in the crystal, and before we could  
dampen it, it shattered."  
"What was the signal?" K inquired.  
"The twins are working on it. We should . . . oh, looks like  
this is it." L said, nodding toward a white coated tech who was  
hurrying toward them, or more specifically Z, who took the sheet of  
paper he was carrying.  
Z perused the message for several minutes, his heavy grey  
eyebrows drawing together in a single furry line across his brow.  
"What is it?" J inquired. "It in some sort of weird alien code?"  
  
"No!" Z said shortly, "it's not in code, it's not even alien. It  
was originally in Japanese, but the lab boys translated." He handed  
the letter to J, who read it and then looked at the other three agents  
with a puzzled look on his face.  
  
"All right, I'll bite, who or what is this Ranma dude, and what  
is all, his, her, or its, fault?"  
  
****************************************************  
  
Plum, who was filling in for the Jusenkyo guide, her father,  
looked over the dusty travelers standing in front of her. An older  
woman, dressed in a practical traveling kimono. A young girl,  
dressed every bit as unisex as Plum herself. Good stout trousers,  
and a heavy, long-sleeved cotton top that all but obscured her  
figure. The only concession she made to her femininity was the  
long shiny black hair that was drawn back into a single heavy pony  
tail that fell half way down her back.  
Last, and in Plum's opinion, definitely not least, was a very  
handsome boy. He was a little taller then the older woman, with a  
build and face to die for. His long chestnut hair was also drawn  
back in a pony tail, though not quite as long as the younger girl. He  
had some sort of heavy, large-bladed weapon strapped to his back,  
and a bandolier of what Plum assumed were throwing weapons  
hanging diagonally across his chest. His eyes were a lovely  
sandalwood brown that a girl could easily lose herself in for days at  
a time.  
  
While Plum was checking him out, he, and the two women  
with him were in turn looking her over. They saw a young girl,  
about as old as the two younger members of their party, dressed in  
an oversized, and very rumpled, Chinese Mao uniform. Her fine  
brown hair was drawn back severely in a tight braid that fell half  
way down her back. Belying the severity of her hair style, she wore  
two bright red hair ornaments on either side of her head. They  
made a vivid splash of color on her otherwise drab exterior. Her  
eyes were lively and quick, and seemed to sparkle with delight and  
joy. A marked contrast to the way the three visitors were currently  
feeling.  
  
Having looked the visitors over, Plum, for the first time by  
herself, launched into the delivery of the traditional greeting.  
"Welcome to legendary training ground of Jusenkyo. Here be many  
tragic tales . . . " Plum had said this so often in practice, she had no  
need to think about it. So while her mouth worked on autopilot, she  
surreptitiously checked out the cute guy. To think she'd been mad  
at her father when he had drafted her to look after the valley while  
he took some other customers around to some of the local hot  
springs. On a monkey hunt of all things. This was suppose to be  
their time together. She hardly ever got to see him as it was,  
without him running off like that. How was she ever going to learn  
all she needed to know if he never taught her? Well, now it looked  
like an absentee father was going to turn out to be a plus, and didn't  
it ever serve him right. This would teach him to try and keep her  
away from cute guys.  
  
"Young lady!" A firm voice said, pulling Plum back from a  
just started daydream involving the handsome boy in front of her,  
some moonlight, and rice wine. Plum blushed as she realized the  
older lady had been addressing her for some time, and that she  
herself had long since stopped talking.  
  
"So sorry, what you say?" She asked politely, while inside she  
writhed in embarrassment at the thought of what the cute guy must  
think of her distracted air. He must think her a little kid, to get  
distracted so easily, Plum thought to herself. She vowed to act her  
apparent age from now on. They would have no reason to find fault  
with her.  
  
The older woman was again the one who spoke to her. "We  
are looking for two people, a young boy and his father. My  
husband and son. They would have been here about three and a half  
months ago. We have been tracing their journey. We know that  
they were in the village an hour north of here at that time, and that  
they were coming here from there."  
"This one is so sorry. This one was not here at that time.  
Honorable father is official guide. This one has only been here for  
last two weeks."  
  
Plum sighed to herself. Two, long, boring, dreary, lonely, boy  
deprived weeks. Her father was going to owe her big time. Of  
course, if her father was here, the last thing on her mind would be  
boys, she thought with a sigh of regret. Either way she couldn't  
seem to catch a break. Her mother watched her like a hawk at  
home, and her father was just as bad in the valley. Now, here was a  
handsome guy, and no father or mother to send her back to play  
with her dolls, and he had two other women with him already.  
Well, she thought with some hope, maybe her chances weren't fully  
blown. The older woman was likely his mother, or some other  
female relative. As for the black haired girl. Well, she was hardly  
what Plum would call competition. She was almost as flat as a boy.  
Once the cute guy got a load of her assets, the black haired girl  
would be eating her dust.  
  
The older woman seemed to slump after hearing Plum had no  
news of her husband and son, and that drew Plum back to her  
duties. She realized that more than the journey was responsible for  
the worn look on the older woman's face. Plum's father had always  
told her to pay close attention to the people who came to the  
springs. To try and judge not only their pocketbooks, but their  
emotional state. It saved a great deal of trouble in the long run if  
you could detect the ones who were likely to take a head long dive  
into one of the pools as a rather round about way of ending it all.  
Of course, as her father even more frequently said, there was  
nothing you could do about the damn fools who were the most  
frequent victims of the pools of sorrow, but at least you could try to  
head off the crazy ones.  
Plum did not think this one was crazy, but she was clearly  
under a great deal of strain. Plum's lack of information had only  
added to that from the looks of things.  
Plum hastened to offer what reassurance she could. "This one  
is sorry to distress you. If you wish to wait, honorable father will be  
back in a day or so. You may ask him about the young man and his  
father."  
  
Actually, Plum had no idea how long her father was going to  
be. How long did it take to spray a bunch of monkeys with cold  
water anyway?  
  
"Thank you. Is there somewhere safe we can camp while we  
wait? We have heard that this area is dangerous."  
  
Plum blinked in surprise. A cautious person visiting Jusenkyo.  
That was very nearly unheard of. Except of course, for those few  
magic users who came here to gather the plants that grew nowhere  
else. For a second she was uncertain of what to suggest. She'd love  
to offer the cute guy the shelter of the guide hut, but four people  
would be a bit crowded in the one room shack. Somehow, she  
didn't think he'd be agreeable to sharing it with her while his  
companions camped outside.  
She could send them back to the village they had come from.  
Then, she could come and get them when her father came back. If  
she did that however, one of those boy crazy girls in the village  
would latch onto the cute guy. No way could she let that happen.  
Then, inspiration hit. "At end of valley is safe area. Many years  
ago, side of mountain fall off. Cover everything. No springs there.  
You wait for honorable father there, yes?"  
  
"Thank you that would be fine. Could you show us the way  
please?"  
  
Plum gladly escorted them down to the proposed camp site.  
As she skipped along beside the older woman who said her name  
was Nodoka, she delivered the standard lecture on the springs, and  
the various curses of the ones they passed. As usual, the three  
people did not believe a word of it. She sighed to herself. She had  
once asked her father why he did not do demonstrations. Tossing a  
mouse or something similar into one of the springs would save so  
much time and bother.  
He had not taken the suggestion well, and she had ended up  
receiving a stern, and very long, lecture on how wrong it was to  
inflict a curse on an innocent animal, especially if you used one of  
the human springs. "Besides," he had finished with, "it would do  
no good. The watchers would just assume it was some sort of trick,  
and would learn nothing from it. You would have harmed the  
creature for no gain." Having heard tales of the fools her father had  
met over the years, Plum had to concede that he more than likely  
had the right of the matter. Fortunately, these three did not seem to  
have any interest in the valley's reputation as a training ground, and  
so it was unlikely she would have to deal with the consequences of  
their disbelief. Or so she tried to convince herself.  
  
When they reached their goal, Plum helped them to set up their  
tents and gear, trying to stay as close to the good looking young boy  
as she could. She was a bit dismayed to find that he was sharing a  
tent with the young girl. However, after observing them together,  
she came to the conclusion they must be brother and sister. Which  
likely made the older woman their mother. They certainly  
displayed little in the way of affection for each other. Indeed, the  
younger girl seemed to be looking at the boy with every indication  
of distaste. A feeling Plum was very familiar with. She felt much  
the same way about her male cousins. She resumed helping with  
the setup, and started to hum a happy tune as she did all she could  
to attract the good looking boy's attention. Eventually however, the  
camp was set up, and she could find no more excuses to stay.  
Much to Plum's dissatisfaction, despite her every effort, she  
had not succeeded in drawing more then a passing look from the  
cute guy. She decided it was all the fault of the stupid uniform her  
father insisted she wear when she was here. Bad enough that it was  
so drab, but it was several sizes too big on top of that. No wonder  
the boy hadn't given her a second look. He probably didn't even  
know she was a girl.  
Well, father might like sucking up to the local political officer,  
but she had a life. Or at least she would have, if she didn't have to  
wear butt ugly outfits day in and day out. She vowed to hunt  
through her meager wardrobe for something that would knock the  
cute guy's eyes out.  
Tomorrow when she came back to take them on a tour of the  
springs, he would see what a real woman looked like. That little  
silk number with the side cut to here, that she had stolen from her  
mother's trunk, and kept hidden from her father, ought to do the  
trick. One look at her in that, and he'd have no doubts that she was  
a full grown woman.  
  
"Well, that must make you feel pretty good about yourself."  
Akane said sarcastically, as she watched the female guide walking  
away.  
Ukyou turned to stare at Akane, a questioning look on her  
face, "What?"  
"The way the little bimbo was practically drooling over you."  
"I didn't really notice." Ukyou said, but the faint look of  
discomfort on her face belied her words.  
"Oh please, she couldn't have been more obvious without  
stripping down and jumping you. Are you sure you don't like it?"  
Akane asked suspiciously.  
Ukyou sighed. Akane was about a subtle as a brick to the  
head. She'd been trying to find out if Ukyou was gay for the last  
four days. Ukyou had been hard pressed to keep her temper. It was  
all the more disturbing because of her own self-doubt on the  
subject. "No, I don't like it, but it comes with the territory. I  
sometimes think that if I did want the attention, I wouldn't get it. I  
think the fact that I don't drool, or bleed from the nose, every time a  
cute girl looks at me, makes them all the more interested."  
"My, I'm glad to see you're so modest." Akane said  
sarcastically.  
Despite Akane's tone Ukyou was pleased to note there was a  
very faint touch of humor present in her words. And was that a  
slight smile on her lips as she turned away? Akane had started to  
relax toward Ukyou after the first time they had used a public bath  
together. Ukyou had a hunch that Akane had not really believed her  
to be female till then. She was still prickly as hell, but at least now  
she seemed to finally be coming around to regarding Ukyou as  
something other then a pervert who was just waiting for a chance to  
get her alone.  
Ukyou's lips twitched toward a grin herself, as she  
remembered that time in the bath. How Akane had stared at her  
suspiciously, not taking her own clothing off until Ukyou had  
stripped down completely. Anyone watching might have been  
justified in thinking Akane was the pervert, considering how  
intently she had checked Ukyou out. That recollection brought  
another one.  
Ukyou wore boxers and tied her breasts down as part of her  
disguise. She wondered what Akane's excuse was? While Akane's  
bindings were not nearly as stringent as Ukyou's, leaving the  
contours of Akane's breasts visible, they had to be more  
uncomfortable then a bra. As for the boxers, well, Ukyou had to  
admit that except when nature demanded otherwise, she actually  
preferred boxers. It could be that Akane just felt uncomfortable in  
panties, and maybe found the breast bindings offered more support  
for her martial arts training then even a sports bra could. Still,  
Akane was a poor one to be casting stones, given her own  
masculine attire. Not to mention her attitude toward boys would  
seem to indicate she might find girls more interesting herself.  
  
"Well, I think if you have no interest in girls, the least you  
could do is let them know the truth before they make complete fools  
of themselves." Akane said, showing she was not ready to let the  
matter drop. "That is unless there is some reason you don't want  
them to stop?"  
Deciding she was not really up to another discussion of her  
gender preference, Ukyou switched topics. "Have you noticed  
Saotome-san? She looks so sad."  
Akane looked for a moment like she was going to resist  
Ukyou's attempt to change the subject, but the chance to bad mouth  
males proved too much for her. "Well finding out your husband  
and son are a pair of crooks would depress anyone. We've found  
three places where they either stayed or ate, and they ran out on the  
bill at all three of them. I'm thinking she's well rid of the pair of  
them. Not to mention all the complaints we heard in the villages  
when we asked around about them."  
Ukyou nodded, but she couldn't help but feel there was more  
to it then that. You would have thought petty thievery carried the  
death penalty from the way Nodoka reacted to Genma and Ranma's  
behavior. As for herself, she had shrugged off the news. It was  
what she would have expected of the pair of them after all.  
"I'm going to go and do some practicing. You want to come  
along?" Akane asked, breaking into Ukyou's train of thought.  
"Sure. You want to spar?" While they had trained along side  
each other on several occasions, they had never sparred. Ukyou was  
feeling a bit rusty, and a good match would help that. To her  
surprise, Akane looked almost nervous at the suggestion.  
"Ahh, no, I don't think that's a good idea right now . . . The  
springs, we have to be careful. If we got too caught up in our  
sparring, we might lose track of just where we are, and fall in.  
Wouldn't want that would you?" Akane said this in the manner of  
someone searching for an excuse not to do something, rather then if  
she really believed what she was saying.  
"Oh please, you don't mean to tell me you really believe in  
that nonsense about them being cursed?"  
"Of course not!" Akane protested  
"Then come on." Ukyou wheedled. She put on a smirk, and  
pushed one of Akane's buttons. "I promise I won't go too hard on  
you."  
"Too hard on me!?" Akane said in outrage. "Not on the best  
day of your life!"  
"Care to prove that?" Ukyou said, her smirk growing more  
insulting. She drew her main weapon, the oversized battle spatula  
she kept strapped to her back. Looking like a metal version of a  
typical baker's peel, it made a formidable weapon. Ukyou handled  
it with the competence of long familiarity, but on this occasion, she  
did not mean to use it. She leaned it against a nearby shoot of  
bamboo instead. "There, that should make things more even. Or  
would you like me to tie one hand behind my back as well?" As she  
said this, Ukyou made a come-on gesture with her hand, while  
falling into a defensive crouch.  
Akane glared at her. Taking the metal baker's peel from its  
position by the bamboo, she tossed it to the surprised chef. "Fine,  
but don't say I didn't warn you, and you'd better use this. You're  
going to need it."  
"Hee," Ukyou laughed. "Now who's being modest?" Ukyou  
held the baker's peel across her chest, and waited for Akane to  
make the first move.  
Despite her words of confidence, Akane moved in hesitantly,  
and her first few strikes were half hearted, and easily deflected by  
Ukyou. Ukyou for her part was puzzled, she had seen Akane  
working out several times. Her current effort did not even come  
close to approaching the competence she had shown on those  
occasions  
It was also annoying. Akane had been bending their ears the  
whole trip about how she'd been forced to fight countless duels  
against boys who wanted to challenge her for a date. Something set  
up by a nut bar at her school. Now it looked like that had been all  
hot air. Either that, or they had been total crap as fighters. As for  
the solo training katas Ukyou had seen, well, it was easy for anyone  
to look good fighting against thin air. Now that she was facing a  
true opponent, maybe Akane was showing her real skill level, or  
maybe she was tanking it for some reason. This last thought caused  
Ukyou to frown in anger. She didn't need any gifts. She was more  
then capable of holding her own in any situation.  
Ukyou decided to end this unsatisfying match early, and her  
annoyance made her decide to do it in a way that would not be easy  
on Akane's ego. Moving in a smooth rhythm that could only come  
from countless hours of practice, Ukyou went on the offensive. She  
lashed out with quick sudden moves of her baker's peel while using  
her legs to attack low when Akane parried high. To her surprise, as  
she began to really push the other girl, Ukyou suddenly found  
Akane's style changing. Her moves were no longer hesitant.  
Indeed, Akane was almost negligently parrying Ukyou's best  
efforts. She flowed aside from the main thrust of Ukyou's attacks,  
while deflecting the baker's peel with a casual brush of her hand, or  
a well-placed finger. At the same time, she used both legs to  
deflect, or parry, Ukyou's kicks.  
Ukyou's eyes opened wide as she suddenly realized how  
strong the other girl must be in order to so casually deflect the  
heavy weapon. Not to mention the kicks, which Ukyou knew from  
past experience were more then adequate to break down the guard  
of most martial artists.  
Now she was annoyed for another reason. Akane did not seem  
to be taking her seriously at all. First she barely tried, now even  
though she was reacting much more positively to Ukyou's attack,  
she still was not giving it her all. While she was easily deflecting  
Ukyou's best efforts, she was making no effort to counter punch.  
Annoyed, Ukyou yelled out at her. "Come on, attack me. I'm  
not a china doll." Akane only smiled tightly, and did not change her  
style. "Fine then!" Ukyou switched to one hand usage of her main  
weapon. She locked the end of the baker's peel into the crook of  
her elbow for added leverage. Then, with her free hand, she  
plucked several throwing spatulas from her bandolier. Akane's eyes  
widened, and she tried to back off to gain maneuvering room.  
Before Akane could manage to foil her plan, Ukyou threw a spread  
of the small weapons, designed to bracket the other girl and hold her  
in place while Ukyou attacked simultaneously with her baker's peel.  
It worked; pushed by the multiple threats, unable to dodge  
without taking a hit, Akane had to go on the offensive. She threw a  
punch that caught the incoming baker's peel square in the middle.  
The blow drove the weapon back toward Ukyou with a force that  
was like nothing the Okinomiyaki chef had ever experienced  
before. Ukyou felt a blow to her chest, and then was only vaguely  
aware of flying through the air.  
The strange floating sensation ended with a splash as she  
landed in one of the various pools dotting the valley, some thirty  
yards away from where she and Akane had been sparring. The  
shock of the cold water cleared her dazed mind. Her hands clutched  
at the ball of pain that seemed to fill her chest and made it hard to  
breathe. She gasped, and drew in a mouthful of water. Choking and  
sputtering, she scrambled for the shore of the pool, and was vaguely  
aware of a hand grasping her collar. The next instant, she was  
flying through the air once more, this time propelled by the grip on  
her top. She had a blurred impression of Akane's worried, fearful  
face hovering over her. The other girl's mouth moved, and as if  
from a great distance, Ukyou heard her asking if Ukyou was all  
right, and apologizing for not being more careful. Ukyou barely  
registered this. Her head was spinning, and her body felt heavy and  
unwieldy. Her wet clothes binding and pressing against her in  
uncomfortable ways.  
  
"Akane, what happened?" Nodoka voice called out in concern.  
Akane looked up from the dazed form of Ukyou, to see the older  
woman rushing across the space between their campsite and her  
present location.  
"It's my fault." Akane said in a miserable tone of voice as  
Nodoka reached them. "I didn't pull my punch enough, and I  
knocked Ukyou into a spring."  
"I thought you were going to stay clear of them?" Nodoka said  
reprovingly. "I know the guides explanation is ridiculous, but we  
heard too many warnings about this place on the way here for there  
not to be something wrong with them. You were very careless.  
Ukyou may have been poisoned."  
"I'm sorry, but I thought we were far enough away. I never  
meant to hit her that hard. It's been two weeks since . . . " Akane  
trailed off, and Nodoka looked at her with a question on her face.  
"Since what?"  
Akane looked away from her, and seemed flustered. "It's  
nothing. I just thought I had more control then that. I guess I was  
wrong. It's just . . . " She trailed off, and her hand went to her face,  
brushing against it as if checking for something. It had the marks of  
a reflexive move, and Nodoka recalled Akane making it frequently  
during moments of stress over the last few days. However, Akane  
said nothing more, and Nodoka turned her attention toward Ukyou,  
who was coughing up water, and attempting to sit up.  
"Here, let me help you," Nodoka said. Kneeling down, she  
helped Ukyou assume a sitting position, and braced her in that pose  
with a hand behind her shoulder. "Are you all right?"  
"I'm fine, I was just surprised is all." Ukyou said in a strained  
voice. She looked across at the worried looking Akane, and said  
reassuringly. "I'll be fine in a little while. That is one hell of a  
punch you have there sugar. Remind me to be more careful the next  
time we spar." She gave a small chuckle that was interrupted by yet  
another coughing fit. "At least I landed in something soft." She  
finally managed to get out.  
"At least you didn't change into some sort of animal." Akane  
joked, her face showing her relief that Ukyou was all right. "Lets  
get you back to the camp." Akane helped Ukyou to her feet,  
showing no strain from having to support Ukyou's weight, and  
helped the dazed girl back toward their tent.  
  
Nodoka followed behind, a worried look on her face. She was  
still not sure Ukyou was none the worse for the experience. She  
vowed to keep an eye on the girl, to make sure the water from the  
spring had not poisoned her, or caused any other effect. Despite her  
determination to watch Ukyou closely, her eyes noted, but her brain  
dismissed the fact, that Ukyou's sleeves and pants legs seemed to be  
riding up a bit high, showing a strip of pale skin that was usually  
sheltered from the sun.  
  
********************************************  
  
"Nihao," a cheerful voice called out, causing Nodoka to look  
up from the meal she was tending over the campfire. Walking  
toward their camp was Plum, the young girl who had guided them  
earlier in the day.  
"Hello dear. Nice to see you again." Nodoka looked the young  
girl over, taking note that she was dressed in a much more feminine  
manner then she had been earlier in the day. The dress was a bit  
daring for Nodoka's taste, but at least it was a dress. She wished  
Ukyou and Akane would dress a little less manly. If they were her  
daughters . . . But they weren't, and she was hardly a shining  
example of parenthood anyway. Banishing these thoughts, she  
asked Plum, "What can I do for you dear?"  
"This one is off duty." Plum lied. "This one dropped by to see  
if you settling in, and if this one could help with anything." "She  
looked around, and asked. "Where are the others?"  
"Ukyou and Akane are over at the tent changing. Ukyou got  
covered in mud when she had her accident, and Akane got smeared  
while helping her."  
So, his name is Akane, Plum thought to herself, jumping to  
conclusions, based on her knowledge that there was only one girl in  
the group other then the one she was currently talking too. "What  
happened to Ukyou, is she all right?" Plum asked, as an  
afterthought.  
"She and Akane were sparring, and Akane knocked her into  
one of the springs. She was a bit shaken up, but--" Nodoka was cut  
off when Plum practically screamed.  
"A spring! What spring!?"  
Nodoka was a bit taken aback by Plum's loud question, but  
she remained calm. Pointing at the spring in question, she said, "I  
believe it was that one over there."  
"Oh no, how tragic," Plum said. "To lose your womanhood so  
young." Inside, she was restraining an unworthy sense of glee. Her  
one fear concerning Akane was that despite her earlier wishful  
hope, he might be involved with the rather mannish Ukyou. If that  
was the case now, and Ukyou was cursed to turn into a boy, then the  
hunk would need a sympathetic, and female, shoulder to cry on.  
Nodoka was looking at her with a puzzled expression on her  
face. "What do you mean dear? Why should falling into the spring  
affect Ukyou's womanhood?" Nodoka's face brightened in  
understanding. "Oh, you mean that legend you were telling us  
earlier. You don't need to worry. Nothing happened. Ukyou did  
not change into anything." Nodoka spoke in a light tone, almost  
joking. She expected Plum to join her in the joke, but instead she  
looked very grave.  
"That spring is Nanniichuan, spring of drowned man.  
Whoever fall in that spring take body of a man who drowned there  
fourteen hundred and fifty-year ago. Very tragic tale." Plum said  
this as if by rote, and in a sort of sing song voice, then her tone  
changed, and she spoke in her normal cadence. "This one does not  
wish to seem rude, but Ukyou look a little like boy to this one.  
Maybe you not notice. Be very good if we tell what happened  
before she find out on her own." Plum said this in a serious tone,  
but inside she was wondering what sort of girl could not notice she  
had turned into a boy. Sure Ukyou was flat-chested, but not that  
flat.  
Nodoka stared into Plum's face, a look of skepticism on her  
face. This was taking a joke a bit far. Local stories were all very  
well and good. She was sure they helped the local economy a great  
deal, but surely the girl could not expect Nodoka to take her  
seriously. Well, one way to settle this. "Very well, why don't we  
go and check out Ukyou, and see if she's been turned into a boy."  
Nodoka could not quite keep the condescension she felt out of her  
voice, but Plum did not seem to notice, instead she headed toward  
the tent the two girls were sharing. Nodoka trailing along behind  
her.  
They had barely taken three steps when a scream ripped  
through the still valley air. Not a scream of pain or grief or terror,  
but one of out and out rage. A voice that Nodoka recognized as  
Akane in full outrage mode, screamed, "you filthy, perverted,  
degenerate! How dare you?"  
The last time she had heard Akane that angry, a boy in Japan  
had grabbed her bottom. Nodoka started to hurry toward the tent,  
afraid one of the local men had snuck into their camp. She just  
hopped she could get there before he was hurt too badly. She  
remembered how much effort it had taken to keep Akane off of the  
other boy. This could be bad. There wasn't a strange green haired  
girl, and a ridiculously strong brunette, to help her pull Akane off of  
the boy this time.  
She didn't make it. The side of the tent suddenly ripped open  
as a body came flying through the air in a high trajectory that took it  
over Plum and Nodoka's head. The glance Nodoka got as it flew  
overhead told her it was Ukyou. A second later Akane came  
storming out of the tent, literally glowing blue. "Come back here  
you pig! I haven't even started you son-of-a-bitch!"  
"Stop!" Plum shouted, placing herself between the outraged  
Akane and the sprawled figure of Ukyou, who Nodoka was running  
toward. "It not his fault you not listen to this one's warning. If you  
fall into Nanniichuan, it your own fault. Besides," Plum added,  
looking at Akane's heaving chest, "you already find out hot water  
fix. This one have to warn you, you get splashed with cold water,  
you turn back into a boy."  
"What the hell are you babbling about?" Akane yelled at the  
girl in her way. Sending Plum staggering with a sweep of her arm,  
she marched toward Ukyou, who was presently being overseen by a  
shocked Nodoka.  
Nodoka's shock could have been because of Akane's behavior,  
but it wasn't, while this was the first time Akane had lashed out at  
Ukyou, her anger was never far below the surface. What had  
caused Nodoka's shock was the sight of Ukyou's chest. When she  
had reached the fallen girl, her suit jacket had been open.  
Obviously because she had been about to change out of her wet  
clothes, and the wrappings she wore around her chest had slipped  
down around her waist, Ukyou no longer having the necessary  
means of holding them in their usual place. Nodoka stared at the  
bare, and most definitely masculine chest thus revealed in stunned  
surprise.  
  
"You bastard!" Akane yelled, reaching for Ukyou's throat,  
intending to pull the stunned youth away from Nodoka.  
"Akane! Stop!" Nodoka said in a very sharp, no nonsense  
tone. She grasped Akane's wrist in her hand.  
"No! I won't! That pervert has been laughing up his sleeve at  
us all week. He watched me change! Hell! He was in the  
bathhouse with us. He watched us both! He even washed your  
back! How can you defend him?"  
Nodoka looked into the furious Akane's eyes, and saw little  
sanity there, but the mere fact that she was able to restrain the angry  
girl showed that somewhere, deep down, a seed of doubt must exist.  
The raw power she had witnessed, and the iron hard forearm she  
was currently gripping proved to her that Akane was restraining  
herself. If she wanted to, she could easily brush Nodoka's efforts to  
restrain her aside.  
"Akane think! We've seen Ukyou nude! You know she was a  
girl, is a girl."  
"It was a trick, a stupid pervert trick! I don't know how he did  
it, but he did it."  
"You're being foolish!" Nodoka snapped out. "You know  
that's not possible! Ukyou may have washed my back, but you  
washed hers. Can you honestly say that you think she was wearing  
a disguise?"  
Akane flushed at the reference to washing Ukyou's back, but  
the reminder was enough to break her out of her cycle of rage and  
denial. The angry look on her face did not disappear, but it grew  
confused. Akane clenched her fists, pulling her arm free of  
Nodoka, and took a step backward. She wrapped her arms around  
her chest, and Nodoka saw her knuckles go white as she gripped her  
forearms tightly. It was if she was trying to hold in an explosion.  
Finally, in a strangled voice she said. "How?"  
  
Nodoka looked over at Plum, a sorrowful look on her face. "It  
would seem we should have taken the stories our guide told us more  
seriously."  
"You can't be serious!" Akane demanded, "are you telling me  
that the spring turned Ukyou into a boy!?"  
"Wait, wait, what you talk about? You one fall in spring."  
Plum's Japanese suffered as she tried to understand what was going  
on.  
Akane looked at her in surprise, and repeated her earlier  
comment. "What the hell are you talking about? Ukyou fell in the  
spring, not me!"  
"As I remember it, you knocked me in." A rather weak voice  
said.  
"Ukyou, you're awake!" Nodoka exclaimed, looking down at  
the girl turned boy in her arms. She helped him to sit up, and  
almost his first reaction was to raise a hand to his chest, and pat it.  
"It's true!" He said in a stunned voice, "I'm a boy."  
"Plum no understand what going on! You always boy!"  
"No." Nodoka answered, "she merely dressed like one."  
Plum looked down at Ukyou as he lay sprawled on the ground,  
a look of surprise on her face, the look that changed quickly to one  
of embarrassment, and maybe a little anger and denial of her own.  
She snatched the kettle from the nearby campfire, and before  
anyone realized what she was doing, dumped its contents over  
Ukyou, fortunately missing Nodoka.  
"Owwwww, you crazy jackass! Are you trying to boil me?"  
The now female chef demanded.  
Plum did not reply, instead, she reached forward, and  
hesitantly grasped one of the most prominent proofs of Ukyou's  
current status. She quickly snatched her hand away, and said in a  
dismayed voice. "Is true. You is girl." Her face turned a deep  
shade of red.  
  
Ukyou had gone rigid when Plum had grasped her, but only for  
a second, even as Plum snatched her hands away as if burned,  
Ukyou was replacing it with her own. "I'm a girl again." she said,  
her expression and tone of voice still rather stunned.  
Akane's expression was equally stunned, while Nodoka had a  
stricken look on her face. Speaking to Plum, but for the benefit of  
the other two girls as well, Nodoka said. "I think maybe you should  
tell us the stories of this place again, and this time I can promise  
you, we will listen most carefully."  
  
*********************************************  
  
Out on the very edge of the earth's atmosphere, an object  
about fifty feet in length was suddenly outlined in a pale corona as  
it impinged on the upper wisps of air that made up the farthest  
reaches of the planet's area of dominion. Silhouetted by the light  
caused from the friction between metal and air, it was revealed as a  
rather elongated egg shape. Its matte black surface peppered with  
what might have been at one time a sophisticated telemetry array,  
but which now consisted of nothing more then melted stubs of  
metal.  
As the alien object bit deeper into the atmosphere, it began to  
tumble, shedding sections of its outer surface until it was  
surrounded by a plummeting cloud of debris. As it fell deeper and  
deeper into the atmosphere, the debris trail became attenuated, and  
formed a tail behind the craft, giving the object the appearance of a  
comet. Its trajectory was shallow, and so despite its precipitous  
decent, it would take some time for it to reach its ultimate  
destination.  
  
Somewhere on a small island in the South Pacific, in a dark  
room lit only by the green glow of numerous tracking stations, a  
man asked a question.  
"Well gentlemen, I'm waiting. What is our bogey? Is it a  
another Russian satellite our new allies forgot to tell us was about to  
fall?" The speaker was an older air force Major, he had _not_ been  
sleeping when the alarm had gone off, and as a result, was rather  
grumpy to have been gotten out of bed. He was standing in a dimly  
lit room, while all around him eager young officers peered into  
glowing green screens that lit their faces up like extras from a  
grade-B horror movie.  
The senior scope technician answered the Major's question. "I  
believe that is a negatory sir. The back plot for the object shows it  
to be from deep space, farther out then we or anyone else has  
anything. I make it to be a meteor sir."  
"Size?" The Major asked, a hint of tension in his voice.  
Congressmen had been getting a large number of inquires about  
what they were doing to protect their constituents from giant  
asteroids landing in their backyard swimming pools. If something  
of any size had slipped in this close on his watch without him being  
aware of it till now . . . he shuddered slightly. "Damn  
Hollywood!" he muttered to himself.  
After a few minutes studying his scope, the tech answered his  
question regarding the size. "It looks like a gravel pit sir. Not solid,  
just a mass of loose material. Nothing to be worried about. It's  
already a fraction of its original size. It's odds on whether any of it  
actually reaches the ground."  
The Major heaved a sigh of relief, then asked the next  
pertinent question. "And if it does reach earth, where would that  
be?"  
The senior scope man turned to one of his subordinates.  
"Finey?"  
Finey replied without lifting his head from his instrument. "I  
almost have it sir. It's a bit tricky, every time it sheds a large chunk  
it alters course. It came in on a glancing trajectory. A few miles  
more and it would have missed us altogether. It's going to orbit at  
least twice before really biting into the atmosphere and coming  
down. Best I can make it out is somewhere in northeastern China."  
"China eh," the Major rubbed his chin for a second. "Any  
chance it could change course enough to bring it into our sphere of  
concern."  
"If it does sir, it won't be our problem. If it shifts trajectories  
that much the, pardon me sir, shit will hit the fan. The only way it  
could change course that radically would be if it was a lot more then  
it seems."  
"Huh," the Major grunted, "see your point. Well, I'm going  
back to bed. If it does happen to change course that much, do give  
the lard butts over at Cheyenne mountain a call would you."  
"Will do sir." The lieutenant snapped off a salute as the Major  
left the room, then turned back to his scope. Unseen by anyone, he  
crossed his fingers. He might have been senior to everyone left in  
the room, but he still had the same dreams that had placed him in  
his present position. He sat watching the screen, and hopping the  
small blip would alter its trajectory in a way that no falling rock  
ever would.  
  
***********************************************  
  
Half a world away, the young lieutenant would have been in  
seventh heaven if he could have seen the two creatures, who would  
not have looked out of place in certain Japanese anime, and who at  
that very moment were observing the self same meteor as himself.  
They however were of a different impression as to it's nature. An  
opinion they had shared with the stocky white haired man standing  
in front of their common desk.  
  
"So, this originated from the same area as the disturbance that  
blew our crystal radio. Do you have an I.D. on it?"  
The twins, as they were known, garbled a string of remarks at  
their boss, who frowned at their reply.  
"You can't detect anything? With our equipment? Are you  
sure it's not just a meteor?"  
This time the gargling had a decidedly huffy tone.  
"Very well, you're the experts, keep an eye on it, and we'll  
send a team to the touchdown point. Wherever that ends up being."  
The white haired man said placatingly, as he headed back to his  
office.  
  
***********************************************  
  
The Jusenkyo Guide made a very great production of lighting  
his pipe, using his cupped hands to hide the expression of mirth on  
his face. Two weeks ago he had dropped a suggestion in Prince  
Herb's ear to the effect that the monkey he and his followers had  
dunked in the Nyanniichuan might not actually have been splashed  
by the water from the Chiisuiton. The guide suggested that in the  
excitement of the moment, combined with the fog, they might have  
missed with the ladle. In that case, if the monkey had belonged to  
one of the troops that frequented some of the local hot springs, it  
might have rejoined them. It could be the reason they could not  
find it, was that it was no longer a girl. If he had known the  
outcome was going to be so humorous, he would have suggested it  
ages ago.  
Of course, the real reason he had suggested it was to get Herb  
away from Jusenkyo while Plum was visiting. He had hated to  
leave her alone at the spring, but she was very mature for her age.  
Too mature. That was the problem. The prince's character had  
improved remarkably in the last three months, but he still was not  
someone who the guide was eager to have his daughter meet. Given  
Plum's unfortunately precocious attitude toward the male sex, and  
Herb and his follower's fascination with female breasts, he just had  
not thought it a good combination. He smiled a little to himself.  
How Herb could remain so fascinated by female breasts when he  
himself had such a spectacular set, was a continuing source of  
mystery to him.  
Be that as it may, his suggestion had worked, and far better  
then he had expected. He watched as Mint and Lime cornered one  
of the monkeys belonging to the current troop they were checking.  
The monkey watched warily as Lime approached, a heavy canvas  
drop cloth in his hands. While his attention was distracted, Mint  
moved into position. Like Lime, Mint too had a large piece of  
canvas in his hands, but his had been converted to a large bag  
stuffed with clothing.  
When Lime felt he was close enough, he tossed his drop cloth  
toward the monkey, who dogged nimbly out of the way, chattering  
his outrage over the tiger boy's behavior. While the monkey was  
distracted, Mint made his move. Blurring into motion, the wolf boy  
swung the large soft bundle in his hands, and belted the monkey  
high into the air. The monkey let out a shriek of fright, and clawed  
futilely at nothing as he described a high arc, straight toward Lime,  
who had recovered his drop cloth, and now held it out to receive his  
prey.  
With a despairing wail, the monkey landed in the middle of the  
cloth, and before he could scramble to freedom, Lime closed it  
around his body, leaving only the monkey's woebegone face clear  
of its embrace. The monkey's cries were echoed by his brothers  
and sisters who were currently penned up in a large bamboo cage  
built against the side of the small valley.  
"Herb-sama, Herb-sama, we have him, we have him." Lime  
and Mint cried out in excitement. The pair of them had grown quite  
expert at catching the little creatures. Indeed, they had grown so  
obsessed with catching the monkeys, staying up late at night to  
devise new methods, the Guide sometimes thought they had totally  
forgotten why they were doing it in the first place.  
Down below them, next to the hot spring, Herb stood up,  
having heard their cries of triumph. He watched as Lime and Mint  
approached with their latest captive. Hefting a large, impressive  
gun in his hands, he aimed it toward Lime. Depressing the trigger,  
he sent a high pressure stream of water from the fluorescent green  
water gun in his hands, and thoroughly soaked both Lime and the  
monkey.  
The Guide noted that Herb seemed to be having trouble with  
his aim, far more of the water landed on Lime then on the monkey,  
and for that matter, he continued the spray for far longer then was  
really necessary to prove that the Monkey was not the one they were  
looking for.  
  
There had originally been three of the high tech American  
water guns, but after about the twentieth 'accidental' dousing in the  
first three hours, Herb had 'accidentally' chi blasted Mint and  
Lime's guns into tiny little plastic pieces.  
  
The now sodden Lime looked down at the monkey in his arms  
and stated the obvious. "This isn't it either Herb-sama."  
"So I see, put it with the rest. How many more of them are  
there at this spring?" Herb asked Mint.  
"Only a few more Herb-sama, no more then five or six."  
"Good." He looked up at the sun, just inching up over the  
mountain top. "We should be able to check them all in the next  
hour or so. Then we can move onto the next hot spring, and have  
our camp set up by tonight."  
Lime had by then reached the cage holding the other monkeys.  
Using a double door system they had devised after one too many  
prison breaks, he inserted the monkey in with his fellows.  
They had originally simply sprayed the monkeys out in the  
open. While this was certainly much faster then catching and  
caging them, it had proven almost impossibly to tell which monkeys  
they had sprayed, and which they had not. So the only way to  
eliminate each troop was to methodically capture each monkey, test,  
and then cage them. Once they had tested all the monkeys at a  
given spring, they would release them, and move onto the next. The  
released monkeys would not allow a strange monkey into their  
territory. So, in this manner they were slowly able to eliminate all  
the various hot spring troops. Of course matters would have been a  
lot simpler if they could have remembered which troop the monkey  
they had used came from in the first place. Unfortunately Lime and  
Mint had been given the job of procuring the original . . .  
As Mint started to get the evening meal ready, Herb  
walked over to the Guide. Once again the Guide took note of how  
much the Prince had changed. He had a smile on his face, and an  
attitude of relaxed good cheer. Where before he had been sour and  
grumpy over his exile, he now seemed to truly enjoy being away  
from the tightly controlled environment of his father's household.  
The Guide thought to himself that Comb, the Amazon healer, had  
done this whole region a favor when she had saved the life of young  
Herb's father. If the sickness had carried his father off, Herb would  
have become ruler without the maturity the role required. He had a  
long way to go yet, but the Guide could already see signs that he  
would be a good emperor when the time came.  
"The hunt goes well." Herb said, as he reached the Guide.  
"That is good to hear."  
The cheerful look suddenly departed Herb's face, and he sat  
down beside the Guide with a sigh. "But there is only one more  
spring, and I fear our luck will be little better there." Herb shook  
his head, and said in a slightly depressed voice. "I don't know  
what we are going to do next. The beast has vanished from the face  
of the Earth. I fear the poor creature never survived. Trapped in a  
body not its own, I grow more convinced every day that it perished.  
If we are lucky, we may find its bones, but I greatly fear that is all  
we will ever find."  
The Guide was pleased to see that Herb seemed genuinely sad,  
not just at his failure, but at the fate of the poor unfortunate monkey  
as well. The boy had indeed matured. He briefly contemplated  
telling Herb the truth. That the monkey had never been cursed.  
That it was a young boy from Japan who had been the girl Herb had  
seen, and had assumed to be the monkey. He sighed to himself  
regretfully. Unfortunately he had let the matter go too far. It was  
now much too late to reveal the truth to Herb. Doing so would  
likely undo all the good his exile had done the young prince.  
Instead he commiserated with the young man. "You have tried  
your best. I'm sure your father will not hold you to your exile."  
Herb looked over at him, a wry smile on his face, and opened  
his mouth to reply, but before he could say a word, a bright light  
flooded the narrow valley they were in as a ball of fire flashed  
across the top of it. A second later a thunderous crash rocked their  
campsite, as the sonic boom trailing the object assaulted their  
eardrums, and sent all the captive monkeys into paroxysms of  
fright. They screamed and leaped from one side of the cage to the  
other, rocking the bamboo structure back and forth till the Guide  
feared it would break.  
"What in all the heavens?" Herb said, rising to his feet, and  
staring in the direction the ball of fire had vanished. The Guide  
followed his gaze, and felt a sinking sensation as he realized the  
direction the fire ball was heading in. They were two days travel by  
rough mountain trails from Jusenkyo, and his heart suddenly beat  
heavily in his chest as he contemplated his daughter there by  
herself.  
Herb had also realized what direction the comet was traveling  
in. "Mint!" He shouted out at the top of his voice.  
"Yes Herb-sama." The wolf boy cried out as he rushed up  
to his liege lord. His eyes also were looking in the direction the fire  
ball had disappeared to.  
"You are to make for Jusenkyo as fast as you can. Tell  
anyone there that we are on our way. If help is needed, give what  
you can. Now go!"  
Mint looked startled for a second, then his eyes widened as he  
once again looked after the vanished fire ball. Looking back at  
Herb, he made the sketchiest of bows, turned, and made haste with  
all his considerable speed toward Jusenkyo.  
"Lime!" Herb yelled again.  
"Yes Herb-Sama!" Lime yelled back from where he was  
trying to hold together the monkey cage.  
"Release the monkeys. Pack our gear. We leave for  
Jusenkyo now."  
The Guide felt emotions choke him up, "My lord, thank  
you"  
Herb brushed him off, going to help Lime with the camp gear.  
Over his shoulder he called back. "It is nothing. You would be  
useless as a guide with this on your mind. The sooner we can ease  
your fears, the sooner you can get back to doing your duty to me."  
The Guide could only look after him in amazement. The  
Prince had changed far more then he had suspected. Maybe it  
would not be such a bad thing if he were to meet Plum after all.  
Musing on that, he made haste to pack up his own small bag. The  
comet had likely missed Jusenkyo, but his mind would not rest easy  
till he knew for sure.  
  
***********************************************  
  
Akane came out of the tent she shared with Ukyou, and looked  
across the valley toward where a small figure could just barely be  
made out in the early mountain dawn. Ukyou had not come to bed  
last night. Had spent the whole night, as a matter of fact, sitting on  
the same rock, her arms wrapped around her staring at nothing.  
Nodoka had tried to get her to come in for supper, but had been  
rebuffed.  
A look of anger flickered across Akane's face, but was quickly  
replaced by a look of guilt. With a sigh, she started out toward the  
distant figure. She had been wracking her brains for a solution to  
Ukyou's problem all night, and had not gotten any more sleep then  
the cursed girl. She thought she had come up with something, but  
she had to confront Ukyou to tell the other girl of it, and she was not  
looking forward to that.  
  
"Ukyou?" Akane asked in a tentative voice.  
"Go away!" Ukyou said, her voice strained with suppressed  
anger.  
Akane flared up at Ukyou's tone, her hair trigger temper  
reacting like always. She hadn't always been that bad, but two  
months of having her natural inclination to help someone in distress  
used against her had made her overly sensitive. She had only  
recently started to realize just how bad she had become. The looks  
Nodoka and Ukyou had directed her way during this trip had not  
gone unnoticed, despite what they might have thought. The  
expression on their faces when she went on one of her rants was a  
painful thing to see.  
More and more Akane was finding she didn't much like what  
she had become. She had several times vowed to control herself.  
Unfortunately, it had proven far more difficult then she had thought  
it would be. There was always some pervert ready to make a  
comment, or to try something funny. She gritted her teeth, and  
brought her anger under control. She would not flare up. Ukyou  
had a valid reason to be upset, she told herself.  
"I only want to help. I've been thinking and . . . "  
"Haven't you helped enough?" Ukyou interrupted, speaking  
in a bitter voice. She turned her face toward Akane, and the other  
girl was shocked by the haunted look in Ukyou's red rimmed eyes.  
A flair of guilt flashed through Akane, and as is to often the  
case with people, she substituted something else for it, goaded on  
by Ukyou's words. Akane's temper flared again, washing away all  
her good intentions in the comfortable familiar rush of hot anger. It  
wasn't like it was all her fault, she'd tried to refuse Ukyou's  
challenge, but the other girl wouldn't take no for an answer. She  
said as much to Ukyou.  
  
"Don't go pushing this on me. You're the one who insisted we  
spar."  
"That was before I knew you were a monster." Ukyou shot  
back.  
Akane flinched back from her, her face stricken, shocked out  
of her comforting anger by the voicing of a thought that had been  
floating in the back of her own mind for some time now. "A  
monster?"  
"No one human could do what you did. You knocked me  
thirty yards with a single punch. Just what the hell are you Akane?  
Some sort of Oni who goes around ruining people's lives?"  
Once again the comfortable heat rose up in Akane. Washing  
away her fears and uncertainties. "You have no idea what you're  
talking about! So I'm strong! Does that make me a monster? You  
have no idea of what I've gone through. Don't you dare call me a  
monster!"  
"What, what have you gone through that is so awful? What  
could have made you this way? A few challenges at school  
everyday? That's crap."  
"It was a lot more then that!"  
All the exasperation Ukyou had felt toward Akane's behavior  
during the trip, combined with her feelings about her recent curse  
exploded. "So tell me, what made you into such a bitch!? Why is  
every guy that looks in your direction a pervert!? Why is every man  
in the world out to get you!? What's so _ goddam _ special _ about  
you that any right minded boy would even take one look at you!?"  
Akane had been driven back several steps by the vitriol in  
Ukyou's voice, but she rallied and her own voice rose in  
counterpoint to Ukyou's. "How dare you call me a bitch? If I'm a  
bitch, then you're a whining little child, who can't deal with the  
consequences of her own actions. You wanted to spar, not me.  
You pushed it during the fight. I was content to just take it easy, but  
you had to force me to go all out. You have no one to blame for  
this but yourself."  
  
"That is enough!" An angry voice said off to the side. Akane  
and Ukyou who were glaring at each other broke off, and glanced  
over to where Nodoka was standing. The older woman had come  
up on them without their realizing it. Lost in their own world of  
anger. Her face was grim, and the expression on it was directed  
toward both of the girls. "There is only one person responsible for  
Ukyou's condition."  
"That's right. It's her!" Both girls shouted at the same time.  
"I said be quiet!" Nodoka said, in a low intense voice. She  
reached over her shoulder, and there was a hiss as a gleaming katana  
was pulled into view. Ukyou and Akane both gulped as they  
realized what the long covered bundle Nodoka had been carrying  
for days was. They both edged backward nervously from the older  
woman, inadvertently standing shoulder to shoulder. This was not  
the gentle Japanese housewife they had been traveling with for a  
week. This was the descendant of the Samurai, and her eyes were  
ice cold. Looking into those eyes, neither Akane nor Ukyou could  
bring themselves to doubt that Nodoka would use that sword if they  
gave her reason.  
Nodoka glared at both of them, then she turned her full  
attention on Ukyou. "As I said, there is only one person truly  
responsible for what you have undergone. Be quiet!" She said, in  
tightly controlled, but very forceful voice, when Ukyou would have  
protested. She waited to be sure that the young girl was not going to  
resume her protest. Satisfied Ukyou was going to stay silent, she  
continued. "You each, for your various reasons, choose to  
accompany me on this trip. I did not ask you to come. You both  
knew that I was investigating the disappearance of my husband and  
son. The implication being that this could be a dangerous journey."  
Nodoka looked back and forth between Akane and Ukyou, and  
while it was obvious both girls wished to say something, they did  
not. The fact that their eyes seemed unable to leave the gleaming  
length of Nodoka's sword supplied an explanation for their  
uncharacteristic restraint. A talent neither one of them had shown a  
great deal of during their journey. Nodoka nodded her head in  
satisfaction. Then, with a sigh, she lowered her sword until the tip  
was pointed toward the ground.  
Once more looking Ukyou in the eye, she continued. "Having  
said all that, I now must say that none of it matters. I was the adult.  
It was my choice in the end whether you came or stayed, and my  
responsibility to look after your welfare once I allowed you to  
come. It was my duty to learn the truth of these springs, and not to  
laugh skeptically toward the one who knew the truth. I have failed  
in all those tasks, and you have paid the price for my failure."  
"Kuonji-san." Nodoka bowed toward Ukyou. "When the true  
fate of my husband and son is determined, and my duty to them  
fulfilled, I ask that you act as my second so that I may extirpate my  
loss of honor." Nodoka moved her grip on the sword till she was  
holding it by the blade, and held the hilt out toward Ukyou, who  
took it out of reflex. Several drops of blood fell to the ground from  
the cut the razor sharp edge had left on the palm of Nodoka's hand.  
Ukyou looked at the older woman in shock, her mind trying to  
process the data. It was not till Akane reacted that her eyes showed  
any comprehension.  
"You have to be joking!" Akane shouted. "You want Ukyou  
to cut your head off after you've slit your throat? Are you crazy?"  
While Akane ranted, Ukyou looked in wide eyed surprise at  
Nodoka, amazed at her offer. Ukyou led her life by the code of the  
Samurai, and to find that Nodoka had the honor and strength to  
make such an offer was a revelation. She suddenly realized that she  
had been underrating Saotome-san. Ukyou had felt her weak, and a  
bit of a fool to have tied herself to Saotome Genma. Now, she  
understood that there was far more to this woman then was apparent  
on the surface.  
With that understanding, came the knowledge that she would  
gladly act as Nodoka's second. To aid her in her search for honor,  
would in turn bring honor to Ukyou. If such a thing truly needed to  
be done that is. The problem was, that in this case, Ukyou did not  
think it did need to be done. Nodoka's reasoning just didn't sound  
right to her. Ukyou was an adult, she didn't need a babysitter.  
She'd come on her own free will, and so had Akane. Nodoka owed  
her nothing, not for this. Now if it was Akane making the offer, that  
would be another matter. The way she felt right now, she'd happily  
swing the sword after Akane cut her own throat. Or maybe not even  
wait for Akane to make the first cut.  
While Ukyou had been experiencing her own little epiphany,  
Akane had continued her rant at Nodoka's foolishness in making  
such an offer. After listening to her talk for a while, and realizing  
she showed no indication of stopping, Nodoka finally interrupted  
her.  
"There is no choice!" She said in a tone that brooked no  
argument. "What I have done to Ukyou is unforgivable, and  
irreversible according to our guide. There is no way I can make  
recompense. As such, I must pay what portion of the debt my life  
will cover."  
Akane who was in truth more scared then outraged by  
Nodoka's offer, suddenly remembered why she had come to see the  
cook in the first place. The same solution that would help Ukyou,  
would also satisfy Nodoka's honor, she hoped. After all, if Ukyou  
was no longer cursed, then there would be no problem, right?  
"Nyanniichuan!" She blurted out.  
Her two companions looked at her, a questioning expression  
on their faces.  
"It's obvious," Akane said. "If the spring of drowned man  
cursed Ukyou, spring of drowned woman would cure her. I saw  
Plum point it out when she brought us here."  
Nodoka shook her head in regret. "I am sorry Akane, but that  
would not work. You left before it came up, but I asked Plum about  
that very thing. Having been cursed by one spring, the others will  
have no effect on Ukyou."  
Ukyou objected. To her, Akane's suggestion made perfect  
sense. "If it won't have any effect, then what's the harm in trying?"  
She said eagerly, her face glowing with the thought that there might  
be a chance to end this curse. "It's at least something. Anyway,  
Plum is not an expert, she's only an apprentice, maybe sometimes  
the springs will reverse the effect. Maybe they don't want people to  
know there is an easy cure. We have to at least try."  
Akane nodded her head, and added. "If it won't have any  
effect, then there can be no harm in trying. It's got to be better then  
. . . " She looked over at the sword in Ukyou's hand, and shuddered.  
  
"Show me where this spring is Akane." Ukyou demanded.  
Nodoka objected, but the two girls would not be swayed, and  
as Ukyou was currently holding Nodoka's most powerful  
bargaining chip, she had little choice in the matter but to  
accompany the two of them.  
  
Off in the distance Plum saw them making their way toward  
the main body of the valley, and felt a shudder of apprehension.  
She quickly snatched up a pot of hot water, and started working her  
way toward the three women. She did not run. The first thing she  
had learned from her father was that you do not run around the  
pools of sorrow. It had been a painful lesson, she had not sat down  
in comfort for a week afterwards, but she also never ran around the  
pools again.  
  
************************************************  
  
"Well, so much for that idea," Ukyou said. He was standing in  
the middle of Nyanniichuan, his hair hanging in sodden stringers  
down his back, water dripping down his face. He had taken nothing  
for granted, and submerged himself completely, but the only effect  
had been that the cold water had turned him into a boy again. He  
wanted to scream out his disappointment. He wanted to get out and  
pound Akane into the ground. He did neither. Instead, he directed  
a worried look toward Nodoka, who was standing there, her back  
rigid, her face set in an expression of grim determination. Right  
there and then Ukyou vowed that Nodoka was not going to die for  
Akane and his stupidity.  
"Oh what you do? You very foolish. You come away careful.  
Very bad you fall in."  
All three of them turned to look at Plum, who was standing  
some distance back from the spring. The guide girl was nervously  
jittering from one foot to another, which did interesting things to her  
upper-body under the smooth, low-cut silk dress she was wearing.  
Ukyou flushed with embarrassment as he realized that the  
changes in his body seemed to be more then skin deep. He'd heard  
enough locker room humor while posing as a boy to know exactly  
what was happening to him. Fortunately, that same rough humor  
also included a possible solution. He looked away from Plum and  
hoped the cold water he was standing in would work as good as the  
legendary cold shower. To be safe, he also started going over the  
multiplication tables in his mind.  
Fortunately for Ukyou's peace of mind, both Nodoka and  
Akane were looking at Plum and not at him.  
"It's all right Plum-san, it's only Nyanniichuan. I remember  
you pointing it out to us earlier. We just thought it would be worth  
a try for Ukyou to see if it would help. After all, you said the  
springs could no longer affect Ukyou, so what's the harm?"  
"They no effect boy-girl, but you is other matter. You come  
away quick, quick, yes?"  
"I don't understand." Nodoka said. "How could this spring be  
dangerous? Akane and I are already women."  
"You no understand. This one no have time to tell you all is to  
know about valley, take years to learn all that. You fall in spring, it  
change you into girl who drowned there, and you act like that girl  
too. You only you, when you, you, rest of time, you she." Plum's  
anxiety was making her hard to understand as she tried to make  
them comprehend that they were not safe. Fortunately, her urgency  
conveyed the danger, even if her words were not easily  
understandable.  
Nodoka and Akane looked at each other, and started to inch  
away from the spring. Ukyou for his part was also moving, to exit  
the spring. Mathematics and cold water having served to quell his  
body's uprising. He was still making every effort not to look at  
Plum, however, keeping his eyes focused on the sky. As a result, he  
was the first to see the fireball as it flashed into being above the  
north valley wall.  
"What . . . " Was all Ukyou was able to get out before, the ball  
of flame crossed the distance between the two sides of the valley,  
and plowed into the top of the south wall. The impact was followed  
by a wave of pressure, as the air disturbed by the impact washed  
over them. Underneath their feet the ground shook, and Nodoka,  
startled by the event, reflexively took a step away from the impact  
zone. Unfortunately, that was a step toward the spring. Everyone's  
attention was on the smoking crater, high up on the valley wall, and  
it was not till Nodoka cried out in shock that they turned and  
witnessed her falling backward into the pool.  
  
Ukyou lunged forward, but while he got his arms under her, it  
was too late. The force of her fall drove Nodoka under the water  
before Ukyou could stop her motion, and while he snatched her out  
within a second, it was far too late.  
Plum, and Akane looked in shock at the coughing sputtering  
figure laying in Ukyou's arms. A tiny redheaded girl now virtually  
swam in Nodoka's kimono, her long hair falling like a fiery  
waterfall into the pool.  
Ukyou stared down at the cute girl in his arms. There was a  
slight resemblance to Nodoka in her face, but when the girl's eyes  
finally focused and stared up at him, it was not Nodoka looking out  
of them.  
  
Xian Pu fought to focus her mind. Her last coherent memory  
was of being in a life and death fight. One of her enemies must  
have gotten in a blow, and knocked her senses loose. She had to  
pull it together. If she faltered, her village was doomed. She had to  
regain control. She blinked her eyes quickly trying to clear them.  
Her body felt strange and heavy, and her clothing seemed to be  
weighing her down. A part of her mind deciphered the sensation.  
She was wearing soaked clothing. That was right! She'd run into  
the Nyanniichuan. Being very careful not to slip and immerse  
herself completely. She had hoped to lure her enemies into the  
spring after her, and then kill them while they were disoriented.  
Another level of awareness was reached, and she realized she  
was being held in someone's arms. She blinked her eyes some  
more, and made out a vague masculine face above her. Father? No,  
father was away, would not be back for weeks. A part of her mind  
tried to decipher the mystery of a man staying a man while standing  
in Nyanniichuan. As a female she could get away with it as long as  
she was not fully immersed. Any animal, man, or pre-pubescent  
girl, who got this far in, should be affected by it, drawn down by the  
pools magic, and changed. So how had this man escaped? Maybe  
he hadn't. Maybe his upper half was the only part that was still  
male. A very un-warrior like giggle threatened to escape her lips at  
the picture that presented to her mind.  
She shook her head, trying to dispel the giddiness that was  
clouding her thinking. She looked around herself, trying once again  
to focus on her surroundings. She became aware of three people.  
Women? Standing on the ground beside the spring. She didn't  
recognize any of them. That made them outsiders, and someone to  
walk careful around. On the plus side, they were not dressed like  
the attackers who had raided the village, nor were they monsters  
like the pair she had just buried under a mountain of rubble.  
Xian Pu felt herself being carried out of the pool, and once  
more looked up at the strange man holding her. She could see him  
clearly now, and he also did not look like anyone she knew. She  
tried to struggle, suddenly embarrassed at being held so intimately  
by a strange boy, but her body betrayed her. Try as she might, her  
body did not seem to want to obey her commands. She looked deep  
into the stranger's eyes, trying to read his intentions there. His eyes  
were not hostile, they reflected only care and worry. Trusting her  
instincts, she gave up her futile efforts, confident that this stranger  
meant her no harm. She would trust him for now. It was not like  
she had any real choice in the matter after all.  
Xian Pu resumed her assessment of the surrounding area. Her  
vision was much clearer now, but what she saw made no sense. She  
frowned. Where were the bushes? There should be bushes lining  
the side of the pool. Where were they? Her vision cleared further,  
and she could see farther and more clearly. Something was wrong,  
this was the Valley of Sorrow, but it looked different, it was not the  
same. What was going on? Where was the enemy? She suddenly  
clutched a hand to her chest as a memory returned. Her wound, the  
strange living log. It had burned her. Lanced her through and  
through, she had been dying, she had felt the taste of her own blood  
on her breath. Her lung had been pierced.  
Xian Pu started to panic again, she thrashed in the boys arms  
as this time her body responded to her wishes, or maybe to her  
panic. "Where am I? What has happened? Who are you  
people?" She cried out. One of the strangers loomed over her, a  
shiny pot held in her hand. The pot tipped, warm water splashed  
over her, and all faded to black.  
  
Nodoka woke, laying on her back and staring up at a ring of  
worried faces.  
"Are you all right Saotome-san?" Ukyou asked.  
Nodoka noted that Ukyou seemed to be female again, but a  
second ago she had been male, and standing in the pool.. Nodoka  
then took in the expressions on the faces above her. Their worried  
looks gave evidence that all was not right. Seeing as how they were  
directing those worried looks her way, she had to assume whatever  
was wrong, was wrong with her. "What has happened to me?" she  
asked. She took some small pleasure in the fact that her voice did  
not by the merest quiver give away the fear she was feeling. She  
had fallen into one of the springs, and after what had happened to  
Ukyou, she did not even have the shield of skepticism to keep her  
from fearing the worst.  
Akane and Ukyou looked at each other, then turned and looked  
at Plum, who looked at each of them in turn, then sighed and said.  
"Oh, very tragic tale Mrs. Customer, you fall in Nyanniichuan.  
Very tragic tale of girl who drown there 1500 year ago, now  
whoever fall in spring take body of girl." As before when reciting  
her lines, Plum spoke in a sing song voice. Now she said in her  
normal speaking voice. "Unless you be girl too, then you change  
into other girl all way. Now when you splashed with cold water,  
you turn into drowned girl, she live again through you. Splash with  
hot water, you be you again."  
"I see." Nodoka said, she looked at Akane and Ukyou, a  
question in her eyes. Again they looked at each other, and Akane  
nodded at Ukyou, who turned back to Nodoka and spoke.  
"You did change. You were younger and smaller, with long  
red hair, and when you looked at me, you didn't seem to know who  
I was. You don't remember any of it?"  
Nodoka shook her head. "The last thing I recall was stepping  
back after that thing hit the other side of the valley, and then falling  
backward. The next thing I remember was just now, you standing  
all around me. Did this other girl do something?"  
"She said something, but it was in Chinese." Akane said.  
Again all eyes turned to Plum.  
"Girl want to know what was happening. Who we is. She  
scared this one think, but try not to show it." Plum looked puzzled  
for minute. "This one no understand, very rare girl fall in spring,  
only two records in scrolls . Father makes this one study all old  
scrolls, they tell of those two times. Girl you was, that not girl in  
scroll. She not act like either girl in scroll. This one no understand.  
Wish father was here," Plum said in closing. Her temporary fill in  
job was proving much more eventful then she cared for. She was  
starting to appreciate the fine sensation of being bored out of your  
mind, and was starting to wish she could go back to it.  
"Poor girl." Nodoka said, as she got to her feet. She ran her  
hands over her body as if checking to see that everything was as it  
should be.  
"Oh this one be all right," Plum said.  
"I was not referring to you dear." Nodoka said. She shook her  
head. "It must have been awful for her. How much do you suppose  
she remembers of her last life?" She asked Plum.  
"Little bit only. Is more personality than memory. One girl in  
scroll not remember anything of last life, but act like drowned girl  
when splashed with cold water. That was second one who fall in.  
First one have some memory, but not all, she remember husband  
drowning her. Very sad tale. She sit and cry all time."  
Akane shook her head. "That makes no sense, this girl spoke  
Chinese, and I think she did it much better then what Saotome-san  
can. She must have more memory then that."  
Ukyou spoke up in disagreement. "Yes, but remember Akane,  
she asked where she was, who we were. Maybe if Plum hadn't  
doused her with hot water, she would have asked, "Who am I?"  
next. We can't tell how much of a person is there from the little we  
saw."  
"Well, there is only one way to find out," Nodoka said.  
"You can't be serious?" Akane said. "You're going to give  
somebody else your body?"  
"Better to do it now, then have it happen later when we can't  
control the situation. Anyway, we can wait till we are back to camp  
and I'm out of these wet clothes. I don't know about her, but I feel  
much better when I'm dry and warm." Nodoka set out for the  
campsite at a brief pace. Once her face was turned from the other  
three girls, she was free to let the control she had been using slip a  
bit. If Akane or Ukyou had been able to see her face at that  
moment, they would have noted it carried an expression remarkably  
close to the one she had worn after hearing tales of her husband and  
son's thievery. The expression of a person who feared the end of  
their life was close at hand.  
  
*************************************************  
  
Nodoka adjusted her clothing, and sat down on the ground, her  
back to a small rock. She looked up at Akane who was standing  
behind her, a kettle of hot water in her hand. "Are your ready  
Akane-chan?" At the young girl's nod, she turned to Plum who was  
standing in front of her with a glass of water. Plum drew back her  
hand. Then, stopped when Ukyou placed a hand on her shoulder.  
"Wait." Ukyou had a towel in her hand, and she handed it to  
Nodoka. "Here put this around your neck. I did a little  
experimenting while you were changing. Getting your head wet  
seems to be all it takes. No need to get your dry clothes wet as  
well."  
Nodoka gave Ukyou a grateful look, and wrapped the cloth  
around her neck. Once again she nodded at Plum, and this time  
there was no interruption as Plum dumped the cold water over her  
head. Behind her, Akane stiffened, and prepared to splash hot water  
if it was necessary.  
  
Xian Pu once more awoke to find herself in a new situation.  
She was sitting on the ground, her back against a rock, and the  
people from before surrounding her. She narrowed her eyes as she  
took in the black-haired girl behind her. Before they could react,  
she lashed out. She brought her leg up and over her head, and sent  
the kettle in the other girl's hand flying with a powerful kick. Then  
ducking low, she leaped forward between the two people in front of  
her, intending to put as much distance between her and them as she  
could. Happily, the paralyzes from before no longer seemed to be  
affecting her. Before she could go far however, she fell, tangled up  
in her oversized clothing, which was slipping off her body, and  
tangling her limbs.  
Frantically, she rolled across the ground, slipping off the  
garments as she did so. At last, free of the confining things. She  
bounded to her feet in a defensive pose. She relaxed a bit when she  
saw the other three. . . girls?. Xian Pu blinked, she could have  
sworn that the brown haired one had been a boy, but even a blind  
man could see she was a girl.  
"Talk to her Plum! Calm her down! Tell her we mean her no  
harm," the brown haired girl said in her father's language.  
Xian Pu straightened up, and said. "Why not tell me yourself  
outsider?" It took all her control to keep her voice calm. She was  
not about to let these people know how badly confused she was. All  
three of the girls looked at her in shock, and before they could  
recover, she gave them an order. "Before you do, tell your brother to  
come out from wherever he is hiding." Grandmother had always  
told her that in a situation like this, it was best to take a position of  
command. If you acted like you were in charge, most times people  
would at the very least, take a wait and see attitude. Act tentative,  
or submissively, and you placed yourself at a disadvantage.  
Xian Pu found some measure of comfort in remembering her  
training. It gave her an anchor to hold on to in this strange situation.  
Better yet, it seemed to be working. The people facing her looked  
uncertain as to how to treat her. She watched them carefully, trying  
to pick up clues as to what was going on, while at the same time she  
kept careful watch, waiting for the girl's brother to show himself  
now that she had revealed that she knew he was lurking.  
  
The black haired girl, and the tall brown haired girl looked at  
each other, then at Xian Pu. "Brother?"  
"I'm not a fool, the boy that was holding me in the pool. The  
one that looks just . . . like . . . you." Xian Pu trailed off as  
realization hit home. She suddenly realized why the boy could  
stand in Nyanniichuan with impunity. "That was you wasn't it?"  
She said to the tall brown haired girl, and while she phrased it that  
way, it was not really a question.  
"Yes." The girl said. Then she added, "you speak Japanese  
very well."  
"It was my father's native tongue."  
The young, shorter brown haired girl protested. "No, no, no,  
this not right! Scrolls say nothing about drowned girl speaking  
Japanese, this not right."  
"What do you mean? Drowned girl? What are you talking  
about?" Xian Pu had a nauseous feeling in her stomach. Her feeling  
of sickness increased as she saw the looks the other girls were  
exchanging. A sudden realization hit her. "I drowned!" She said in  
an incredulous voice. "I'm dead." She said, more to herself then to  
the outsiders, her voice as faint as her face was pale. Her knees  
went weak, and her legs folded under her. She dropped to the  
ground, and knelt there, staring at nothing. "Mother, father," she  
muttered. The others drew near her, and she looked up at them, her  
eyes stricken. "How long? How long since I . . . " she couldn't say  
it.  
The black haired girl said in a gentle tone. "Fifteen hund--"  
"No!" The Chinese girl cut her off. "That not right. This not  
girl who drown fifteen hundred year ago. This one not know how,  
or who." The girl turned to her and said. "You know name? How  
much you remember?" Frustrated with her look of  
incomprehension, the girl switched to Chinese. "Do you  
remember who you are? What was your name? How much do you  
remember of your life? I am the guide here, you can trust me. It is  
my duty to help those who run afoul of the curses."  
Xian Pu looked at her for a minute, too numb to react. Then,  
her shoulders went back, and her chin came up. She pulled her  
dignity on like a set of armor, and said. "My name? My name is  
Xian Pu. I am a warrior of the Nyanichiczu, from the village of  
Joketsuzoku, and I remember everything." Her voice rang out,  
echoing off the walls of the valley. Then she slumped in on herself,  
no longer able to keep the horror at bay. "And I am a walking  
ghost." She murmured in a quite voice, more to herself, then to her  
audience.  
The Chinese girl looked . . . awe struck. "You is Xian Pu?"  
She seemed unable to go on. She just stared at Xian Pu, an  
expression on her face very much like the one you would expect on  
a child who has just discovered a dragon in her favorite play area.  
One of mingled fear and delighted awe.  
Her behavior was enough to arouse Xian Pu's curiosity. An  
emotion that her grandmother had often said would be the death of  
her. Well, too late for that now, she was already dead. "Do you  
know me?"  
The girl opened her mouth several times, and finally managed  
to say. "You is famous. You is monster killer. You save Amazon  
village three hundred year ago. Very famous tale. You take last of  
enemies with you when you die. You found in Nyanniichuan, but  
no girl look like you, act like you ever come out. All figure you die  
before drown. You very, very great hero. Name of Xian Pu, is one  
of great names. All girls, they know you."  
Xian Pu's eyes widened at that. A great name, one of the  
names that would never die. There would always be a Xian Pu of  
the Amazons. Then she shuddered, and hugged herself tightly.  
There was someone else out there with her name. There was  
another Xian Pu. A Xian Pu who belonged to this world, this time.  
A Xian Pu with a mother and a father and family. A Xian Pu who  
was not some sort of soulless body stealing spirit!  
Suddenly it was all too much, too fast. With a cry, Xian Pu  
spun to her feet. Looking around wildly, she spotted the kettle she  
had kicked out of the dark-haired girls hand, and sprinted toward it.  
Picking it up, she gave a sob of relief when water sloshed. She no  
longer cared if the others thought her weak. She just wanted to run  
away from the awfulness that was her existence, and this kettle gave  
her a way to run away even from herself. She let the water that had  
not spilled out when she kicked the kettle run over her head. Thank  
the spirits, it's ho . . . Was her last thought before the darkness once  
again swallowed her up.  
  
Nodoka woke up, and the first thing she noticed was that she  
was standing instead of sitting, and she staggered a bit as her mind  
adjusted. The second thing she noticed was that she was as naked  
as a jay bird. She gave a small shriek, and covered herself with her  
hands and arms as best she could. Then with a shudder, she  
dropped her hands, and drawing her dignity around herself like a  
cloak, walked over toward her clothing. "Well, this could take  
some getting use to," she said, as she dressed herself. Her voice  
was steady, but the slight red flush across her nose gave the lie to  
her appearance of calm. "Any particular reason she took our clothes  
off?"  
Akane and Ukyou started to respond together. They looked at  
each other, and this time it was Ukyou who deferred to Akane with  
a nod of her head. Akane said. "They were too big for her, and she  
got tangled up in them. I think she was afraid we were going to  
attack her. She kicked the kettle out of my hand before I could  
move. She's fast." Akane finished, her voice expressing a level of  
amazement that told Nodoka the girl was a lot more then merely  
fast.  
  
Something else Akane had said had drawn her attention.  
"She's smaller then I. How much smaller?"  
"She comes up to about here on me." Akane said, holding a  
hand about an inch below the top of her head, "and she's pretty  
lightly built."  
"Except around the chest." Ukyou added, earning a dirty look  
from Akane.  
"You would notice that."  
"Girls, please!" Nodoka said firmly. "We have other things to  
worry about. What is she like? Is she a blank slate like Plum  
feared?"  
"Girl is all there, is very strange, Plum never hear of like  
before, she great Amazon hero, very famous girl."  
"Amazon?" Nodoka questioned.  
"Yes, is village one day walk from here, very powerful female  
warriors."  
Nodoka looked troubled. "That could be a problem, I can't  
see how I can avoid cold water out here in the countryside, and if I  
change, she might head for her home. Who knows how they would  
react to her? They might think her a ghost, or worse." Nodoka did  
not mention her own fears, that once away from Akane and Ukyou,  
the girl would have no reason to change back. Nodoka might wake  
up to find weeks, months, or even years had passed. It was far  
easier to avoid accidental dousing with hot water then the reverse.  
She gave an inner shudder at the thought, but was careful not to let  
her fears show on her face. There was no need to worry the  
children.  
"She seems to feel that way herself." Ukyou said, and at  
Nodoka's questioning look, she explained. "She seemed to take the  
notion she had died very hard." Ukyou stopped, looking a bit  
flustered as she played back her last statement in her own mind. "I  
mean, more then you would think. Considering that as far as she  
was concerned, she was perfectly healthy. I heard her mutter about  
being a walking ghost. It was her who changed you back. She  
looked pretty broken up."  
Ukyou comments gave Nodoka something other then her own  
fears to worry about. She was not the only person with a problem  
here. The girl inside her must share her fears on the matter, and  
unlike Nodoka, who had only her own carelessness to blame, the  
other girl was innocent of any wrong doing. It was wrong of  
Nodoka to turn her into a monster because of her own fear. Some  
of this showed in her voice when she spoke. "The poor girl, we have  
to do something to help her."  
"Help her!" Akane said incredulously. "She's a spirit that  
steals your body whenever you get doused with cold water, which  
could happen at anytime out here. How can you think about  
helping her? You need to get rid of her, before she decides to get  
rid of you."  
"It is not her fault we are in this situation. She did not choose  
to be what she is. We were the ones who were careless, and we  
must take responsibility for our actions." Nodoka said in a firm  
voice. While she did so, a little voice in her head asked her who she  
was trying to convince. Akane, or herself? She gave a sigh, and  
turned to Ukyou. "I am sorry Kuonji-san. Until this can be  
resolved, I'm afraid I cannot do the honorable thing. I hope you can  
forgive me, and will be willing to wait till I can settle this issue, and  
I can make amends."  
Ukyou looked at Nodoka not sure what to say to that. In truth,  
she had totally forgotten Nodoka's intention to commit seppuku.  
"Ahh, no problem," she finally managed, putting a hand behind her  
head, while trying to gather her thoughts. "Take as long as you  
like." She directed a look at Akane, and was pleased to see in the  
other girl's eyes that she was not the only one who was worried  
about the direction Saotome-san's thoughts were taking. She  
vowed to have a private chat with Akane later. The two of them  
needed to bury the hatchet. Maybe if they worked together, they  
could convince Saotome-san there was no reason to commit suicide.  
As if reading her mind, Akane suddenly spoke up. "Ukyou?"  
She called out. "Do you want to go over and check out the  
meteorite with me?" Ukyou could clearly see in Akane's eyes that  
the girl was also thinking they should get away from Nodoka for a  
little bit to discuss the situation. Akane's words also reminded  
everyone of the event that had precipitated this whole matter. All  
eyes turned toward the smoking crater high up on the valley wall.  
Nodoka looked doubtful, she'd already proven herself a very  
poor guardian, but then she considered the matter. Frankly, she'd  
feel a lot better with Akane up on the side of the valley, rather then  
down here, close to the springs. It was too late for her and Ukyou.  
The least she could try to do, was to get Akane home safe. "Very  
well, you girls go and investigate. I wish to talk with Plum, and to  
begin breaking camp. I will not spend another night in this valley.  
Please be careful."  
Akane merely smiled at her. She cocked her arm and made a  
muscle, which she patted with her free hand. "Don't worry. If there  
are any alien monsters inside it, Ukyou and I won't hurt them too  
badly." Akane turned, grabbed Ukyou by the hand, and dragged her  
off at high speed toward the crater.  
  
Nodoka watched them for a while, and then turned to Plum. "I  
would appreciate all you could tell me about the girl I change into .  
. . " Nodoka broke off as a thought occurred to her. She turned a  
worried look toward the now distant figures of Akane and Ukyou.  
"There are no springs up on the valley wall are there?" She asked in  
a worried tone.  
"No springs over that way. Not since mountain fall down.  
Only spring outside of valley, over there." Plum pointed toward the  
opposite side of the valley, which was covered in heavy brush.  
Nodoka looked in the direction Plum was gesturing, and could  
just barely make out the entrance to a narrow gully. "What spring is  
that?" She asked in curiosity.  
Plum looked a bit uncertain, and to Nodoka surprise, she  
started to breathe in and out deeply. "What's wrong dear?" Nodoka  
asked, but Plum only held up a finger, asking for patience.  
After several more deep breaths, Plum finally said, That spring  
is,  
Weitaoyanbuhuaihaoyiduocigubanjuyouyiyanjuyouheinanmaodaitu  
renwushishishengbaobeibinggebaihechuyuchuzhizianwobeituretang  
yuqilingdeshijieyongjieniichuan."  
By the time Plum finished, she was turning a little blue, and  
the last few syllables had been spoken in a very high wheezing  
voice. She gasped as she pulled in great lungs full of air. Nodoka  
looked on in worry till she had fully recovered. When Plum had  
finally caught her breath, she looked pleased with herself. "That  
first time this one manage whole thing, one go. Old priest who  
name spring, he very great talker, he talk and talk all time, very long  
winded, this one thinking."  
"My goodness, whatever does it mean?" Nodoka asked, and at  
Plum's look of dismay, she hastily added. "You don't have to say it  
all in one go dear. Just break it up if you would."  
Plum nodded, and stood silent for a little while as she worked  
out the translation. Finally, she gave a nod, and said. "This spring  
is called. Spring of Drowned Big, Nasty, Evil-Tempered,  
Battle-Scarred, One-Eyed, Black Tomcat that Ate the Holy and  
Revered Fighting Cranes of My Monastery, May He Burn in the  
Seventh Ring of Hell For All Eternity . . . "  
Nodoka blinked, then said, "I see, I imagine he was very  
annoyed at the time."  
Plum just nodded solemnly, and then the two women started to  
break down the camp site while Plum told all she knew of the  
Demon slayer Xian Pu. Which turned out to be heavy on stories,  
and rather short on actual facts.  
  
**********************************************  
  
"So what are we going to do about Saotome-san?" Ukyou  
asked. Akane had stopped her head long rush half way across the  
valley, and they were now walking at a pace that made conversation  
much easier.  
"I don't think there is much of a problem right now. You  
know what Plum said about the curses being permanent. I don't  
think she'll kill herself as long as she has to take someone else with  
her, even if it is a body stealing spirit. On the other hand, if she's  
crazy enough to think of it in the first place, who knows."  
"I hardly call wanting to do the what you think is the right  
thing crazy." Ukyou chided Akane, but then added. "Still I suppose  
you're right about her holding off as long as this Xian Pu is  
around." Ukyou rather admired Nodoka's commitment to honor.  
So many people paid the concept lip service, but were not prepared  
to go out of their way in actual observance of it. Ukyou had seen  
the calm acceptance in Nodoka's eyes when she had made her offer,  
and had no doubt that the woman was prepared to do what she felt  
was the right thing.  
That made it all the more important that she and Akane do  
everything they could to make sure she didn't. Nodoka was not  
responsible for Ukyou's condition, and Ukyou would not see  
another pay the price for someone else's mistake. She directed a  
side long look at Akane as she thought this, but kept her mouth shut.  
With some difficulty to be sure. She was still more then a little  
angry at the dark haired girl. She was going to have to put that aside  
if she wanted to convince Saotome-san that there was no need for  
the ultimate apology. She was going to have to pretend that her  
curse was no big deal. She gave a sigh. Maybe it really wasn't.  
After all, what would it change? It might even be for the best. At  
least as a boy, her chest wouldn't constantly ache from the bindings  
she used to tie down her breasts. It wasn't like she was going to  
have to change her behavior, or her mode of dress.  
Besides forcing Ukyou to accept her curse, one other thing  
Nodoka's offer had driven home, was Ukyou's own reluctance to  
take responsibility for her actions. Akane might have been at fault,  
but she was not blame free herself. Maybe the first step in coming  
to some arrangement with Akane was to admit that. If Nodoka was  
prepared to kill herself, the least Ukyou could do was to bite her  
tongue, and admit her own partial blame in the matter.  
"Akane?"  
"Ukyou?"  
"Oh, you first."  
"No, you go ahead."  
"All right. It's what Saotome-san said. About taking  
responsibility. Not about killing herself. I've been thinking about  
it, and she's right. I was as much to blame as you for what  
happened to me. I'm sorry I took it out on you."  
"What do you mean? I'm not . . .!" Akane yelled, and then to  
Ukyou's amazement, she blushed and broke off in mid rant. After a  
minute, she said. "I'm sorry too. I guess I was partly to blame. It's  
just been really hard on me the last little while, and I have a difficult  
time trusting anyone in pants, even when I know in my mind they're  
really a girl. You, just look way too much like a guy. Even when  
your not, a guy that is."  
Ukyou lifted an eyebrow, and took in Akane's own apparel.  
Akane caught the look, and for a moment she looked like she was  
going to flare up again, but then she threw back her head and  
laughed. Ukyou watched in amazement as Akane's face seemed to  
undergo a transformation. The hard lines that had given her a  
continued discontented look melted, leaving her looking softer,  
kinder, a very different person from the one Ukyou had grown to  
know over the past week.  
"All, right." Akane said, when she stopped laughing. She  
wiped tears from her eyes, and continued. " Point taken. I'll try not  
to judge so quickly from now on," she said. "For what it's worth, I  
know I've been a complete bitch the last week. I guess it took a  
shock like the curses, and Nodoka-san offering to cut her own throat  
to make me realize it. I promise I'll try and do better. Come on. I'll  
race you." With that, she took off for the impact crater, Ukyou in  
close pursuit, her face reflecting her inner amazement at Akane's  
words. It would seem she was not the only one to be affected by  
Nodoka's offer. If Akane could admit her faults, maybe there was  
hope for the girl after all.  
It did not take them very long to reach their destination.  
Unlike most of the hills surrounding the valley, this one was neither  
a cliff, nor covered in brush. It was instead a massive jumble of  
rocks, but that was no impediment to the girls. They easily leaped  
from the top of one boulder to another, until they reached the  
impact point. The meteorite had hit high up on the slope. Up where  
the rock gave way to dirt, and it was almost completely buried.  
"Shoot," Ukyou said. "You can't see anything."  
"I can fix that." Akane said. She slipped out of her shirt,  
leaving only her breast bindings in place, and started to do some  
stretching exercises.  
Ukyou looked at her in surprise for a minute, not sure what she  
was doing, and more than slightly fascinated by the other girl's  
muscular development. Akane might not have had much of a  
figure, but she more then made up for it in definition. Ukyou had  
never seen another girl with that sort of muscle mass. She regarded  
herself as being toned and buffed, but Akane put her to shame. She  
continued to stare at the play of muscle along Akane's back, until  
the other girl stooped down and started to work her fingers under  
the exposed edge of the meteorite.  
"Oh come on." Ukyou scoffed. "You may be strong, but that's  
bloody ridiculous. There is no way in hell you are going to move  
that thing."  
Akane looked over her shoulder at Ukyou, and grinned.  
"Want to bet." Then, she gave a barking laugh. At Ukyou's puzzled  
look, she added. "Sorry, I just had a flash back. My sister made a  
bundle saying those very words, and in exactly this type of  
situation. A truck had rolled over, and was blocking the street. It  
was beside a construction site, and they were trying to get it out of  
the way, so they could get supplies in. They were talking about  
bringing over their crane, but my sister came up with the idea of me  
moving it. They didn't think I could do it either. We ate take out  
for a week straight."  
"And you're trying to make me believe you moved the truck?  
Sorry, I don't buy it." Ukyou said in a very skeptical tone. "I know  
you're strong, but I don't believe that for a second. If you move  
this rock, not only will I cook every night for the rest of the trip. I'll  
do the dishes as well."  
Akane only grinned, and reached under the rock. "I'll hold  
you to the dishes part, but I'll help with the cooking. I've been  
meaning to offer for a while." She felt around a bit, and then found  
a purchase point. Bracing herself, she started to lift. Almost as  
soon as she began her effort, her feet started to sink into the ground.  
Ukyou stood back, her arms crossed over her chest, and waited for  
Akane to give up. Akane's feet continued to sink until they reached  
solid rock, and could sink no further. Akane gave a grunt of  
satisfaction, and having assured her footing, really started to pour it  
on.  
Ukyou's eyes bulged when she saw the mound of dirt over the  
meteorite start to shift. "I don't believe it." She said incredulously.  
However, after the first shifting of dirt, there was no more  
movement for some minutes, and Akane's face began to take on a  
purplish hue.  
Ukyou was just about to try and convince Akane to give up  
when there was a sudden sharp snap. Akane jerked upright, as the  
ledge she was lifting on suddenly broke away from the main mass  
of the object, and snapped up with no further strain on her part. The  
loss of resistance caught Akane by surprise, and when a flood of  
pale blue liquid gushed out of the interior of what was now clearly  
not a rock, she was unable to react in time, and was knocked over  
by the flood.  
"What the hell?" Ukyou exclaimed, looking back and forth  
between the sodden Akane and the interior of the supposed  
meteorite. There were little tell tale lights in there, and levers and  
controls. What might have once been viewing screens, but were  
now hollow sockets. Whatever had filled them not having survived  
the crash.  
Akane was sputtering and coughing. She had been taking a  
deep breath when the flood of blue liquid hit her, and more then a  
little had gone up her nose, and down her throat. She sat up, and  
something on her chest started to roll off. Instinctively, she cradled  
her arms, and caught whatever it was before it could fall completely  
off her body. Blinking her eyes to clear them, she looked down at  
the small black object in her arms.  
"It's a pig!" Akane and Ukyou exclaimed at the same time,  
and indeed, that is what it was. A small black piglet. Not your  
typical barnyard denizen however. He had a yellow bandanna with  
black checks wrapped around his neck, and its two front hooves  
were deformed. The front legs simply ended in two gray balls,  
about twice the size of the rear hooves.  
"I don't understand, why would a pig be inside a rock?" Akane  
said in puzzlement.  
"Maybe because it's not a rock. Check it out." Ukyou said,  
gesturing toward the exposed interior of the supposed meteorite.  
Akane gaped at the sight for a minute, and then her expression  
darkened. "Those bastards!" She swore.  
Ukyou looked at her in surprise, wondering what had set off  
the volatile girl now. For the life of her she couldn't see how on  
earth Akane could blame anyone for this situation, or why she  
would want to. Akane did not keep her in the dark for long.  
"How dare they, shooting a helpless little animal into space  
like that. I thought they gave that up years ago." She held the limp  
little animal up near her face. "He must have been so scared." Then  
her face firmed. "We are not going to let them get away with it!"  
She declared.  
"What are you talking about?" Ukyou asked.  
"We're taking him with us!"  
Ukyou looked back at the ship. It looked like a very expensive  
piece of equipment. She didn't think the owners, whoever they  
might be, would be happy about the pig being missing. She looked  
over at Akane, about to say something, then stopped herself. There  
was no point. The expression on Akane's face showed quite clearly  
that this was a non-negotiable matter, and Ukyou knew better then  
to think she could change the other girls' mind.  
Besides; truth be known, she was not keen on handing the little  
thing over to whoever it belonged to either. The chances were very  
good it would not be given a hero's welcome, and live to a ripe old  
age, going on to father another generation of space going pigs. A  
short messy end in a lab somewhere was its much more likely fate.  
That thought settled it for her. "You're right," she said in a firm  
voice.  
"I am?" Akane asked in surprise.  
"Damn straight. I agree one hundred percent. We'll keep the  
fact he came out of this thing to ourselves."  
Akane looked gratified, and she directed a smile Ukyou's way.  
Once again the chef was struck by what a difference it made to her  
face. She really is cute when she smiles, Ukyou thought to herself.  
  
Nodoka was putting the finishing touches to her packing when  
the girls rejoined her. She raised an eyebrow at the presence of the  
small pig in Akane's arm. "Really, Akane, you shouldn't have done  
that. Some farmer will be most unhappy that you poached one of  
his pigs for dinner."  
Akane looked at her blankly for a second, then protested. "I  
didn't. He was--"  
"Wandering around up by the meteorite!" Ukyou broke in,  
directing a speaking look in Akane's direction, hoping she would  
keep quite. "We think he wandered off from wherever he came  
from. He's too young to survive on his own out here for long.  
From the bandanna around his neck, he might have been a pet.  
Akane want's to keep him, as one herself. We could leave a little  
money with Plum in case someone comes looking for him, and  
directions if they really want to get him back badly." Of course,  
Ukyou thought to herself. Seeing as how she would fill Plum in on  
what those people would do to the pig, and what Akane would do to  
Plum if that happened. It was unlikely that the girl would reveal the  
pig location under any circumstance.  
Nodoka looked a bit doubtful. She looked at Akane, saw the  
entreaty in those eyes, and gave in to the inevitable. Getting out of  
this valley was far more important then the true ownership of a  
piglet. "Very well, Ukyou. Plum has gone back to her hut to check  
the records for more information on my curse. You'll find her  
there. Hurry. I want to be out of here as quickly as possible.  
Akane, you had better go and clean yourself up. You are a mess."  
It was true, the liquid that had drenched Akane, had also  
soaked the ground she fell on, and she was covered pretty much  
head to toe with mud. She nodded her head in agreement to this,  
and set out to follow Nodoka's suggestion, but then stopped.  
Looking uncertain, she asked. "Where should I go? How will I  
know what water is safe?"  
"Plum tells me the streams that run into the valley from the top  
of the hills are safe. There is one over near the base of the hill  
where the meteorite crashed."  
  
************************************************  
  
Ukyou was coming back from leaving money with Plum when  
she spotted the boy. He was slim and short, and was wearing a  
tattered grey fur as clothing, with a fur cap of the same color on his  
head. He was also several feet behind Akane, who was nude from  
the waist down, with her back toward the boy. Ukyou had a  
horrible feeling she knew what was about to happen, and broke into  
a run, hoping to get there before it did.  
  
Akane was deep in thought as she washed herself. She had  
finally managed to relax, and for the first time in months had  
managed to let go of the certainty that at any minute some pervert  
was going to molest her. She had enjoyed herself with Ukyou up on  
the hill, and had felt real pleasure when the other girl had agreed to  
enter into a conspiracy with her to save the little pig.  
She felt tensions that had been tying her nerves in knots for the  
last six weeks start to relax as she cleaned the muck off her upper  
body. This trip was turning out to be very good for her. Maybe, if  
she could just keep control, she might just come out of this with a  
friend. Something that she had been lacking ever since Sayuri's  
boyfriend gave into peer pressure and joined the morning gang  
attack. Taking away what had been the last sympathetic ear she  
could voice her problems to.  
Looking back, she decided that was when she had started to  
lose it. With no one to talk to, or to sympathize with her problems,  
she'd started to feel it was her against the world. The problem was,  
the world was a lot bigger then she was. Not that she had let that  
stop her, but thinking about it, she could see how her behavior must  
have looked to others, and to see for herself just how bad she had  
gotten.  
Ukyou was right. It wasn't like every man and boy in the  
world was out to get her. At least half the boys at Furinkan had  
never joined in the attacks. And the boys who challenged her in the  
street, or at the dojo, were just out to make a rep for themselves as  
fighters, they likely didn't even care that she was a girl. As for  
those bastards who had tried to drag her into an alley that one time,  
well they were just creeps, out to make a different type of  
reputation. It hadn't been fair of her to paint all boys with the same  
tar brush.  
  
Mint had run as he had never run before, and had made it to  
Jusenkyo in a time that would be the stuff of legend. If anyone had  
cared that is. The area was sorely lacking in cheering crowds. He  
stood on the outskirts of the valley, trying to remember Herb-sama's  
message. He must help, and tell them that more people were  
coming. There was a boy a few feet away from him, washing  
himself in the stream. His clothes tossed over a large flat boulder  
nearby to dry.  
Mint walked toward the boy, too out of breath to speak. His  
shadow fell across the other boy, and he turned in surprise to look at  
Mint. Mint's eyes bulged, and his mouth fell open, a hint of drool  
appearing on his lower lip. The boy had titties. Mesmerized by the  
sight, he reached forward, and poked one of the fascinating mounds.  
"Titties," he giggled.  
  
A sound behind Akane made her turn. Expecting to see Ukyou  
she had a smile on her face. The smile froze as she looked up to see  
a strange boy looming over her. She found herself paralyzed for a  
precious second, just long enough for the perverted bastard to reach  
out and molest her.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"  
  
Nodoka jerked upright, just as Ukyou flashed by their former  
campsite. "Oh Shit!" floated back to Nodoka from the running girl.  
She turned toward the direction of the scream, and saw a scene that  
stopped her heart. Akane was standing there, stripped to the waist,  
a boy in front of her. Clutched in Akane's hands was a massive flat  
boulder, nearly three feet thick, and a good fifteen feet in diameter.  
Akane was holding this over her head, and Nodoka did not need  
anyone to tell her what was about to happen. Unfortunately, the  
same could not seem to be said for the boy, who seemed oblivious  
to his danger. He simply stood there, his eyes glued to Akane's  
breasts.  
"Akane, no!" Nodoka screamed. Then, unmindful of her  
dignity, she rushed toward Akane, making the best speed she could.  
Praying that against all the odds, either she or Ukyou would be able  
to stop Akane.  
Behind Nodoka, a small black animal groaned to itself as it  
came back to the world of the living. It rolled over on its side, and  
blinked bleary eyes. Seeing the activity in the distance, it set out on  
unsteady legs, hoping to discover where it was, and what the hell  
was going on.  
Ukyou could see she was not going to be in time. Muttering  
an apology under her breath, she drew one of her throwing spatulas,  
and threw it with all her might, hoping it would reach its target in  
time. The small weapon sped through the air, and hit, right where  
Ukyou had intended. Akane gave a small scream of shock as the  
knife edge of the weapon bit into her shoulder, causing her to turn  
slightly.  
Ukyou had hoped to distract Akane from the target of her rage.  
Her plan failed. While Akane flinched under the strike, and turned  
slightly, her intention to pulverize the pervert did not lessen in the  
slightest. However; if Ukyou plan did not work as she intended, it  
did serve the purpose of saving Mint's life. When Akane turned,  
she broke Mint's eye contact with her breasts. That and her cry of  
pain was enough to waken him to his danger. Looking at the  
boulder descending toward his head, he leaped backward with  
blurring speed, managing to almost completely escape the hammer  
of doom. Almost. The edge of the boulder brushed by his body,  
and sent him sprawling. A microsecond later, the rock slammed  
into the earth with an impact that seemed to shake the whole valley.  
  
Akane scowled when she saw she had not managed to swat the  
pervert, and started to lift the rock again. Fortunately for Mint, and  
unfortunately for her, the impact from the rock was not without  
consequences. As Akane started to lift the massive boulder, the  
ground shifted under her feet and gave way. Akane had time for  
one startled squawk, and then she vanished, swallowed up by the  
inky blackness that had opened up at her feet, a second after she  
disappeared, there was a muffled splash.  
  
Slowly, a group cautiously formed around the hole in the  
ground, keeping well back from the crumbling edge. Ukyou had  
been the first to reach the scene. She fell to her knees, and leaning  
forward carefully, called down the hole. "Akane, are you alright?"  
  
A muffled cough, and the reply, "Yes, I think so," floated up  
to her. Ukyou frowned, the voice did not sound at all like Akane's,  
and had a strange echoing quality. She blinked in surprise, and then  
brushed the strangeness aside. Obviously the hole Akane was in  
distorted her voice.  
Nodoka was the next to arrive, and before she could say or ask  
anything, Ukyou reassured her. "She's all right, but I don't know  
how we're going to get her out, the side looks awfully unstable."  
"I'll climb back up." Came Akane's strange echoing voice  
from down in the hole.  
"No, stay where you are!" Nodoka called out, worry in her  
voice. "If you try to climb up you may bring the whole thing down  
on your head. Stay put. I mean that Akane! Don't try to climb  
out!" Nodoka put all the power she could in her voice, hoping for  
once that Akane would listen to her.  
"All right," Akane replied. The tone of her voice indicated she  
would not stay put long however. "You had better hurry," she said  
nervously. "I think there is something else down here with me."  
Plum arrived at that point, and looked at the hole in the ground  
with a pale face. "Oh no!" she murmured to herself. For what  
seemed like the hundredth time that day, she found herself praying  
for a return to boredom.  
"Titties," a voice said beside her, and she turned to see a boy  
about Akane and Ukyou's age leering at her cleavage. His face was  
suddenly replaced by a broad shiny surface.  
SPLANG, went Ukyou's baker's peel as it impacted. "Get lost  
you. This is all your fault!" Ukyou yelled at the comatose boy.  
Rather futilely as it happened, he was obviously not going  
anywhere.  
  
The small black pig Akane had found limped up, and poked its  
head over the edge of the hole. No one paid any attention, not until  
a rough gravely voice asked. "So, what's going on here?"  
  
Three heads turned in incredulity, three pairs of eyes looked  
into a pair of brown eyes that looked back at them placidly, if a  
little impatiently. "Well," the pig said, "I'm waiting."  
  
Even if any of them had been capable of speech at that point,  
he would not have received an answer. Akane's distorted and  
echoing voice suddenly cried out in panic. "There is something  
down here! Get away from me you perverted monster!" A second  
later, two blurs rocketed up out of the hole, and landed several yards  
away from it, one on each side.  
  
The sight that greeted the three girls, and one pig, drove all  
other thoughts out of their mutual minds. The creatures on either  
side of the hole were well covered in mud, but that did not keep  
their general appearance from being made out. About six feet tall,  
maybe a bit more. They were covered head to toe in short, light  
honey-blond fur. It clung close to their bodies, in most places no  
more then a half an inch in thickness, but so heavy that no sign of  
skin could be seen. Only in a few areas such as their heads did it  
grow thicker.  
Observation of their appearance was greatly aided by the fact  
that they were stark naked. Their modesty somewhat preserved by  
the heavy blond mane each possessed. Hanging from their heads, it  
fell as far as their knees. The mud and water that soaked it helped it  
greatly in its job of concealment. Weighed down by the water and  
muck dripping from it, it hung in great tangled streamers around  
their bodies.  
  
As the two strange beings glared at each other, another feature  
attracted the watchers' attention. Swishing in agitation behind each  
of them was a long tail. One had a tuft on the end of her tail, while  
the other's ended in a blunt point. The tails were currently giving a  
very clear indication of the two's current mood.  
That is, if they lived up to their general cat like appearance.  
On a dog, that much tail movement would have indicated great  
happiness. None of the people watching thought for even a second  
that was the case here. The way they were baring their teeth at each  
other, and the manner in which they were warily circling the other  
party, gave pretty clear evidence that they were not happy campers.  
Their faces were almost human, but in keeping with the rest of  
their bodies, they had a distinctive feline cast to them. It was too far  
away to make out their eyes, but the watchers had little doubt they  
would continue the trend, and be slitted cat eyes. The one with the  
tuft on the end of her tail had a patch of whitish fur on her left  
cheek. The grain of that small patch ran opposite to the rest of her  
pelt, giving it a ruffled look, and exposing the pale undercoat of her  
fur.  
Last, but not least, topping their heads were large triangular  
ears that projected up out of the mud and water soaked hair that  
covered their heads. They were mobile, and as the girls watched  
each other intently, they twitched back and forth, moving in time  
with the agitated swishing of their tales.  
  
Both creatures cried out at the same time.  
"Saotome-san, Ukyou, Plum! Get out of here! I'll hold it  
off!"  
"Saotome-san, Ukyou, Plum! Get out of here! I'll hold it  
off!"  
  
"What? How dare you mock me, you, you, you, creature  
you?"  
"What? How dare you mock me, you, you, you, creature  
you?"  
Again, the creatures spoke in perfect harmony.  
  
"Spring of drowned twins." Plum murmured in a dazed voice.  
  
"What?" Nodoka exclaimed. She tore her eyes away from  
the sight of the two humanoid cat creatures arguing with each other,  
word for word, and in perfect harmony, to look at Plum. "You  
know what is going on, Plum-san?"  
  
The guide girl looked at Nodoka, her eyes glazed. She spoke  
in a mumble, as much to herself as to Nodoka. Events seemed to be  
catching up to her. "They act like person fall in spring of drowned  
twin. They think other fake, both talk and think same thing, same  
time. But that wrong, there no spring of drowned twin cat demon  
here. This part covered over three hundred year ago. There was  
spring of drowned rabbit, spring of Tasmanian devil, spring of  
drowned Bush boy, spring of drowned Kangaroo, spring of drowned  
crocodile, and spring--"  
"Yes, yes," Nodoka cried, afraid that Plum might go on  
forever at this rate. Reaching out and shaking the dazed girl, she  
said, "I understand. There was not supposed to be a spring here  
that would have done this. But there is a spring that will turn one  
person into two?"  
"Yes, but it only change into two who be same as one who fall  
into spring. They no change into different thing."  
"But that does not mean that it couldn't!" Nodoka said firmly.  
"After what has already happened here, I'm prepared to believe  
almost anything. That means that both of those things could be  
Akane. There is only one way to find out." Nodoka gave Plum a  
good shake for emphasis, and shouted at her. "Run and get hot  
water! I'll try to get Akane to understand what has happened."  
"But--" Plum started to say, but was cut off by Nodoka before  
she could say anything else.  
"Get the water!" Nodoka ordered her again. Then, leaving  
Plum, she strode off toward the two quarreling creatures. With no  
other choice, Plum hurried off toward her distant hut, wondering  
what else could possible go wrong. As if in answer to her thought, a  
large fat drop of rain dropped onto her nose, followed shortly after  
by others.  
Nodoka had managed no more then two steps toward  
what she assumed was Akane and Akane, when the world went  
away again.  
Xian Pu stumbled, almost falling to her knees. She caught  
herself barely in time, and gave a muffled curse. Was this the way  
she was fated to spend the rest of her life? Constantly coming to  
awareness in strange situations, and moving in ways directly  
opposite to the way she had been maneuvering when last aware?  
What was she to do if she woke in the middle of. . ."  
  
"Agggg! What have you done to me you monster?"  
"Agggg! What have you done to me you monster?"  
  
"a . . . battle?"  
  
Xian Pu's head whipped around in shock. It couldn't be!  
She'd dropped a mountain on them. They had to be dead! As if to  
give the lie to her thoughts, there they were, big as life. The  
monsters that had almost destroyed her village before she could lure  
them out of it. They were standing there facing each other and  
ignoring Xian Pu. Each of them was looking down at themselves in  
shock, and running hands up and down their bodies.  
  
"You've turned me into one of you!"  
"You've turned me into one of you!" They shouted at each  
other.  
"Are you making fun of me?"  
"Are you making fun of me?"  
"Stop that!"  
"Stop that!"  
"Arrrhhhhhh! I'll Show you!"  
"Arrrhhhhhh! I'll Show you!"  
  
They lunged at each other in a perfectly choreographed move,  
and seconds later they were rolling across the ground, trying to do  
each other serious harm. It was the strangest fight the befuddled  
Xian Pu had ever seen. Every single move they made was exactly  
duplicated by the other, countering every attack before it had even  
started. Punches collided with each other. Grappling moves  
tangled with their duplicate move.  
Xian Pu did not know what was wrong with the two cat  
demons. She was only glad that their quarrel was distracting their  
attention from her. What was she going to do? If dropping a  
mountain on top of them had not finished them off, what would?  
Before she could come up with a suitably lethal plan, she was  
interrupted.  
"Real intellectuals ain't they?" A gravely voice said.  
Xian Pu whirled around in shock. While she had been  
distracted, someone had snuck up on her. She blinked. There was  
no one there.  
"Down here toots." Xian Pu lowered her head, and found  
herself staring at a small black pig. Having gotten her attention, he  
turned back toward the two arguing cat girls, and continued to talk.  
"Not that the two of them were ever what you would call brain  
surgeons mind you."  
Xian Pu got over her shock fairly quickly. After all this was  
Jusenkyo. She had not thought people with an animal curse could  
talk. But there was no arguing with the fact that he was. Besides,  
her attention was more on what he had said, then the fact that he  
had been able to say it.  
"You know them?" She asked him.  
"Too damn well. They tried to kill my empress once. See  
Anna there? How she's missing the tip of her tail. That was me  
that did that. She was hiding behind a wall taking pot shots at the  
palace guard. Didn't think to keep her tail behind it as well though.  
Should have seen her jump when I nicked her. Too bad her sister  
Una got off a shot and distracted me before I could finish the job, or  
I would have potted her in the air. Funny thing though. The girls  
are looking pretty damn spry for three-hundred, considering their  
species has a life span of about one-hundred-fifty. Well, never  
mind, we'll figure that out later."  
The small pig held up one of his front hooves, and Xian Pu  
saw that it was deformed. Then, it shifted, the ball of dull grey  
material that was at the end of his leg instead of the expected hoof,  
turned shiny, then flowed, taking on the shape of a large sharp  
spike. The small black pig looked at it with grim satisfaction.  
"Nani?" Xian Pu exclaimed.  
The little pig waggled his eyebrows at her. "Magic kid. Can't  
you tell I'm a great and powerful magician?"  
Xian Pu nodded her head solemnly. That explained a lot.  
How he could talk in his animal form, the strange hooves,  
everything. Even the fact that he claimed to be at least three  
hundred years old , and had faced the cat demons before. "What  
would you have us do elder?" She asked, giving him a slight bow of  
respect as she did so. Even if he was a male, he had a presence that  
would not be out of place on a matriarch. Besides, anyone who had  
fought those two before, and lived, was deserving of respect.  
"Well now. I was not really thinking of us. 'I' was going to  
sneak up on them while they're arguing with each other, and give  
them a taste of several thousand volts. Hoping of course they don't  
see me. I'm too old and tough to make a good meal, but those two  
are likely to try anyway in my case. Anna was awfully proud of her  
tail. You stay back here where it's safe."  
Xian Pu rejected that plan outright. "I am an Amazon warrior.  
I too have fought these creatures before, and unlike you, I did more  
then score a lucky hit. I managed to drop the side of the mountain  
on them." She saw no reason to mention that it had been pure luck  
on her part, rather then any great skill or planning. "If they were not  
demons they would surely have perished. I say we lure them into  
one of the springs. Even a demon might not be a match for the  
magic of Jusenkyo. If we can change them into something helpless,  
they will be ours to defeat."  
The small pig had been listening to her with the long suffering  
look of someone who had spent far too much time with eager  
rookies, but when she mentioned Jusenkyo, his ears perked up. His  
attention, which had been focused mainly on the quarreling pair of  
cat demons was suddenly all directed toward her. "Jusenkyo! As in  
the magic springs that give transformation curses? Cold water  
changes you, hot changes you back?"  
Xian Pu was puzzled by his apparent lack of knowledge.  
Surely he must know the place he had been cursed? Still . . . "That  
is right, this is the Valley of Sorrow. Every spring here has a curse.  
If we can just find the guide, and have her point out a suitable  
spring, we can bring an end to the cat demons once and for all."  
"Just a minute, just a minute. Let me think here," the pig said,  
holding up his spike tipped leg in a be-quiet gesture. Xian Pu  
fumed, but before she could voice an objection, he asked her a  
question.  
"You say you dropped a mountain on them? When?" His  
voice carried such a tone of command that Xian Pu had to fight to  
keep from bracing to attention. She almost said she had fought  
them three hours ago, but then she paused., flushing sightly. That  
would have been the answer of a true novice. During the  
excitement of seeing the cat demons still alive, she had forgotten  
her own situation. Once again the pig's comment on when he had  
faced the demons surfaced in her mind. "It was three hundred years  
ago. I drowned in Nyanniichuan shortly after that. I only recently  
woke up after a woman fell into the spring and gained me as a  
curse. I'm not even a real person. I am nothing more than a  
shadow of the past." Xian Pu said the last with some bitterness,  
which was not lost on the little pig.  
"Funny, you don't look like a shadow to me." He waggled his  
eyebrows at her as he ran his eyes up and down her body. "As for  
being a real person. I'd say you're more than real enough for me.  
Alright, enough self pity." Xian Pu felt outrage at his remarks, and  
at his casual dismissal of her situation, but once again the pig did  
not give her time to voice this. He continued to speak in a crisp  
voice. "So you claim to have dropped a mountain on them three  
hundred years ago. I don't suppose they tried to run away when you  
did that?"  
Disciplining herself, she kept her attention on the matter at  
hand, but privately vowed that there would be a reckoning later.  
"Yes, they did, but they did not escape. I lost sight of them in the  
dust near the end, but by then they were still too far from safety for  
it to have made a difference. There is no way they could have  
escaped fully."  
"I don't suppose they could have run into one of the springs  
while trying to get out from under the landslide? Say, just before it  
buried them?"  
Xian Pu experienced a burst of understanding. "They fell into  
a spring! That's why they are still alive. They are a curse!" She  
glared at the little pig, and added. "Like me."  
He ignored her last remark, focusing instead on the part that  
interested him. "So if we can splash some hot water on them, they'll  
revert to their previous form, whatever that is."  
Xian Pu looked around herself quickly, taking inventory of the  
people she could see. There was a ragged looking boy laying on the  
ground nearby, his chest raising and falling, showing he was not as  
dead as he looked. Xian Pu did not recognize him, but his clothes,  
and a certain feral quality, marked him as a member of the Musk.  
That would have to be dealt with, but later. Near him, and watching  
the two cat demons with a worried look on his face was the brown  
haired boy from the spring. The rain had obviously changed him  
into his current form even as it had brought her out. Far off in the  
distance she could see the female guide hurrying toward them, a  
kettle in her hand. That left one person, unless there was another  
unknown individual involved.  
"Short, black haired girl, good fighter, but not the best. Fairly  
strong from the look of her. That is the one who likely has the  
curse."  
"But that's only one. Who's the other?"  
"There is no other. If the Cat demons drowned, they likely did  
it at the same time in the same spring. They seem to be twins. That  
makes it a twin spring. One person falls in, two come out."  
"No shit!" he looked over to where the two cat demons were  
rolling around on the ground together, trying their level best to  
strangle each other, and not having much luck. The landscape was  
not fairing as well. They were surrounded by a churned up sea of  
mud and rocks. Even as he watched, they rolled near a large  
boulder, imbedded deep in the ground. One of the girls, he couldn't  
tell which one, they were so badly coated with muck by now, placed  
a foot against it and shoved. She might have been hoping to gain an  
advantage over her opponent with the added leverage, but all she  
succeeded in doing was to shove the massive rock over, churning up  
even more dirt.  
P's expression became uncertain for the first time. Damn, he  
didn't remember them being that strong. It must have something to  
do with the magic, and that was something outside his experience.  
He turned to his companion. She at least seemed to know a little  
about it. "Should we douse them while they are together, or wait till  
they separate. I'm not up on this magic stuff. Not even sure if I  
believe in it. Do they need to be touching to turn back into this girl  
who fell into the spring? Do we have to douse one, or both of  
them?"  
"I'm not sure." Xian Pu frowned, and tried to remember what  
her grandmother had taught her about the springs. "Spring of  
drowned twin is not like other springs. The curse makes two people  
where there was one, and they don't change back. This is different I  
think. If it was the black haired girl who fell in, then she changed  
into a completely different creature, two of them as a matter of fact.  
The hot water might not work, or it might leave us with two girls, or  
they might merge into one person again." She shrugged her  
shoulders. "There is really only one way to tell."  
  
With no further word or explanation, Xian Pu went bounding  
across the ground, straight toward the panting out of breath, Plum.  
Reaching her in seconds, she snatched the kettle from the startled  
girl's hand, and bounded back toward the fighting cat demons. The  
rain that was falling would make this a very short term experiment.  
Despite that, it should at least let them know whether the hot water  
would have any effect, and if so, what. Reaching the two girls, she  
quickly hoped into the air to avoid their rolling bodies and to get as  
close as she could to them. As they passed under her, she upended  
the kettle. The figures below her morphed, and for just a second, it  
was two naked black haired girls below her. Then, they were back  
to being cat demons.  
  
The brief moment was enough however to finally break the  
stalemate the two had ended up in. They broke apart and looked at  
each other in shock. Then their eyes narrowed and they glared at  
each other.  
"So that's it, you're trying to steal my body."  
"So that's it, you're trying to steal my body."  
They glared at each other with loathing. For a second, it  
looked like they were about to resume their interrupted battle.  
Before that could happen however, there was an interruption.  
  
"Ahhhhhhh!" the cat girl with the tuft missing from her tail  
suddenly stiffened, her back arcing in a bow. The one with the  
white patch on her cheek watched in shock as the other girl seemed  
to go into some sort of fit. The convulsions seemed to go on  
forever, but really only lasted about five seconds. The stubbed  
tailed girl finally slumped, and slowly folded to the ground. Behind  
her, the small black pig gave a toothy smile, and blew on the tip of  
the sharp needle his hoof had morphed into.  
"Get's them every time." He said with every indication of  
satisfaction. "Now we deal with you!" He glared up at the  
remaining cat girl, who looked back at him in shock.  
"Nani! P-chan? I don't understand? You can talk! How?"  
An expression of complete befuddlement covered her face.  
An expression of startled surprise crossed the pig's face. It  
was quickly replaced by one of intense anger. "Don't you dare call  
me that!" He said in a voice that carried an amazing amount of  
threat, for coming from such a small creature. "You don't have the  
right! You haven't earned the right!"  
The standing cat girl backed up a few steps, her expression  
going from befuddlement, to shock. For a second she looked like a  
little girl whose parent had yelled at her, and who didn't know why.  
Her expression turned quickly to one of anger. Anger which  
completely overrode any surprise a talking pig could cause.  
"How dare you! I'm the one who saved you from your  
crashed rocket!"  
For a second the tall cat girl, and the short pig glared at each  
other. To Xian Pu's surprise, the small pig was the first to look  
away. When he spoke, it was in a sad tone.  
"Sorry girl. My partner Felicity use to call me P-chan. To  
hear it from you . . .Let's just say it was a shock. That body you're  
wearing used to belong to Una Puma. She was my partner's great,  
great, aunt. She was also a vicious mercenary, who tried to kill  
someone I cared very much for. She also threatened to serve me for  
dinner if she ever got her hands on me. We didn't get along very  
well."  
His words seemed to remind the girl of her current situation.  
She looked down at her own body, and then at the one laying on the  
ground. "I'm cursed then?" She said in a stunned voice. "But who  
is that? Did someone else fall in at the same time?" Her eyes  
suddenly widened. "Not the pervert!" She looked around, and  
sighed in relief when she spotted the figure of the fallen Musk  
warrior.  
Xian Pu answered her. "You fell into a spring of drowned  
twin cat demons. That one on the ground there is you as well."  
"What!? You mean that one's a copy of me don't you?"  
Xian Pu shook her head. "You are both the same person,  
neither of you is copy, not if what I've heard of the stories is true.  
Or maybe you could say you are both copies."  
"That wrong! I'm the original!" She turned to the pig. "Why  
else would you have knocked out the other one?"  
"I've got this one toots." The little pig said to Xian Pu.  
Turning back to the cat girl, he said. "Luck of the draw I'm afraid.  
If you had been the closest, I'd have zapped you." Seeing the girl's  
expression, he quickly added. "Now don't go getting upset. I had a  
good reason. You two are exactly the same person. Until you  
diverge from each other you're going to be caught in some sort of  
feedback loop. I figured that if I put one of you out, then that would  
give the one still standing a chance to diverge enough that you two  
can start dealing with each other in a less violent way."  
"Deal with that fake! Never!"  
Before either the pig or Xian Pu could say anything, a sarcastic  
voice came from behind them. "That's the way to go Akane! Why  
don't you yell a little louder! I'm sure reality will move over if you  
just howl loud enough!"  
Xian Pu turned to see that the brown haired boy from before  
had walked up to join them. He was looking at the cat girl in  
disgust. The cat girl for her part was looking at him with a great  
deal of anger. "Are you saying I should just go along with this  
crazy idea?"  
"Oh no, of course not!" The brown haired boy said, his voice  
dripping sarcasm. "I think you should wait till this other one wakes  
up! Then, you and her can go back to tearing the hell out of the  
each other, and everything else around here!" He made a wide  
sweeping gesture. Indicating the mounds of dirt and the deep  
gouges in the earth the two cat girls had already churned up during  
their fight. "Or better still, you could use this!" He held up a  
sheathed sword. The one Nodoka had given him a little while  
earlier. Taking a firm grip on the sheath he used his other hand to  
pull twenty six inches of razor sharp blade free of it. "Yes, this will  
do the trick. You can just cut her head off while she's helpless.  
That should solve all your problems."  
"What!?" The cat girl said, drawing back in shock. "I couldn't  
do that!"  
The pig took over the conversation at this point, after directing  
an approving look at the brown haired boy. "Why not? She's a  
fake! You said so yourself. What right does she have to live. How  
dare she have your body, your memories! Best thing you could do  
is to kill her before she starts demanding your rights. She might  
even claim you're the one who's the fake."  
"I am the real one!"  
"That's right. So I guess you'd better take the boy up on his  
offer. Do her in now. After all, it's not like she's a real person,  
she's just a cheap fake the springs conjured up."  
"Are you crazy? I can't kill her!"  
"Why not, you don't think she's going to agree that she's the  
fake. If Red here is right, she's got your memories, your body.  
She's thinks she's you." He shook his head. "Nope, better to just  
kill her and be done with it. Give her the sword." He told the  
brown haired boy. The boy held out the sword to the cat girl, a  
serious look on his face. Xian Pu realized what they were trying to  
do, but from the look on the boy's face, he was not altogether sure  
the cat girl would reject the offer of the sword. The relief on his  
face was obvious when the cursed girl placed her hands behind her  
back, and backed away from the proffered sword, shaking her head  
in denial.  
"No, I won't do that. You can't make me do that."  
The pig spoke again, and this time his voice was soft and  
soothing. "It's alright girl, you don't have to do it. Why don't you  
go and get yourself cleaned up, and we'll talk with this other one. I  
can tell you that you got yourself a hell of a good looking body  
there, if you'll just wash all that muck off of it. No one ever  
accused the Puma sisters of being short on looks, just on brains.  
With your mind and Una's body, you're one hell of a package."  
Ukyou stiffened in reflexive shock, and for a brief second, a  
recipe for pork Okinomiyaki ran through her head. She wondered if  
she could snatch the pig away before Akane went ballistic.  
Her jaw dropped when none of this became necessary.  
Instead of going postal on the little black pig. Akane said,  
"really, you think so?" Ukyou gapped as Akane shyly ducked her  
head and dug a toe into the dirt. What the hell was going on here?  
If any guy had said that to Akane, she would have pulverized him.  
Of course the one doing the complimenting really was a pig, instead  
of just being one metaphorically, but still.  
"For sure, now go wash up now. Leave your sister to us."  
"Sister?" The cat girl said this word as if tasting the concept, a  
look of surprise on her face. She gave them a weak smile. "I guess  
she is sort of a sister isn't she?" She walked off toward the nearby  
stream, the angle of her head showing she was finally thinking,  
rather then simply reacting. Ukyou watched after with a feeling of  
some relief. She'd been afraid Akane had reverted fully to her  
angry young girl mode, but it looked like she had been serious about  
behaving better.  
Xian Pu waited till she was out of earshot, and then spoke in a  
lowered voice just to make sure. "That was well done elder. But  
what do we do with this other one? She is going to be as hard to  
convince as that one was."  
"The name is P, Agent P. 'You' can call me P-chan if you like.  
You're not bad, either of you. You both have the making of good  
cops. As for this one, well, we wait till . . . What is her name  
anyway," he asked the brown haired girl.  
"Akane, and I'm Ukyou."  
"All right, we give Una-Akane a chance to clean up. Then."  
He held up his spiked tipped hand, "we give her a nice little nap,  
and do the whole thing over again with Anna-Akane here."  
Xian Pu frowned. "Una-Akane is not likely to take that well."  
"Can't be helped. But one of the benefits of this method is  
that it scrambles short term memory. She won't remember anything  
from the last thirty seconds before I stuck her. Believe me, I know  
what those bodies can do, and what it takes to put one of them  
down. It won't do her any lasting harm. I wish we could do it some  
other way, but it has to be done like this. Like you told me, at the  
moment they are duplicates of each other. Mentally, as well as  
physically. What worked with one, will work with the other. They  
are simply too dangerous as they are. I won't have them killing  
someone accidentally while they quarrel. We already know one  
method that works, so I don't see any need with trying a different  
one. Now, back to your positions, and try to remember what you  
did last time, and when."  
Xian Pu found herself responding once again to the aura of  
command P-chan exuded, and along with the brown haired boy.  
Ukyou? She started trying to remember the words and actions she  
had spoken and used in the conversation with Anna-Akane.  
  
******************************************************  
  
"So that's what we did." Ukyou said to Nodoka. "And just  
like with Una-Akane, Anna-Akane came around in the same way,  
they're still pretty wary of each other, but they seem to be at least  
trying to get along. I don't pretend to understand why that pig can  
get through to them, however. Maybe it's because he's not human?  
Or maybe because he's so small? Whatever it is, I'm glad he could.  
  
"That seems very cruel, what this Agent P did to them. Is he  
really an alien?"  
"As far as I know. I'm no expert, but I can't think of any other  
explanation for him. Xian Pu is sure he's some sort of magician or  
spirit guardian. That is she thinks that now. She dumped some hot  
water over him. He read her the riot act for that, but he didn't  
change. As for Akane, I agree with you. I think it was cruel, but I  
couldn't think of anything else, and you know how strong she is. I  
was afraid if the two of them didn't settle down they could cause  
some real harm. You saw what she almost did to that boy. It was  
only luck she didn't kill him. Akane's new bodies have some pretty  
impressive natural weapons, I hate to think what would have  
happened if that Agent P hadn't calmed them down.""  
"What about that boy? Where is he now?"  
"Locked up in Plum's hut. When he was just coming around  
he started talking about Prince Herb coming with everyone. Plum  
tells me Prince Herb is the son of a local ruler that lives outside the  
communist net. Seems they have an arrangement with the  
government. You don't bother us, and we won't bother you. They  
must be pretty dangerous if they can get the PRC to accept an  
arraignment like that. Plum tells me her father has warned her  
about this Prince Herb. She's supposed to make herself scarce, and  
to make sure he does not see her if he comes here. She didn't say  
outright, but I get the impression that Prince Herb and his men are  
not great respecters of women. I can believe it. When that boy  
woke all the way up and saw Xian Pu, he didn't even hesitate, he  
made a grab for her with no warning at all. Pu flattened him."  
Ukyou's voice held admiration. "Akane was right, she's faster then  
anyone I've ever seen. I meant that guy was quick, I didn't even see  
him move, and she still took him out."  
"Oh dear," Nodoka said, glancing over to where both Akanes  
were sitting. Listening while Agent P filled them in on the former  
history of their cursed forms. From the expression on their faces, it  
did not make good listening. "We had best be gone before this  
Prince Herb gets here then. I don't want Akane to go on another  
rampage. We've already caused enough damage."  
"My thoughts exactly."  
"Will Plum be safe?"  
"She should be. She says she knows the mountains well  
enough that she can hide out there while she waits for her dad to get  
back."  
Agent P who had finished his talk with the Akanes, left them  
quietly talking to each other, and wondered over to Ukyou and  
Nodoka. "So, you're Xian Pu's other half."  
  
Nodoka looked at the small pig uncertainly, but despite her  
doubts, she owed him a debt of honor. So she spoke with respect to  
him. "That is correct. I understand from Ukyou that I own you a  
debt of gratitude. You managed to bring Akane . . . and Akane  
under control. Something I have been unsuccessful in doing."  
"Don't mention it. I've had lots of practice. They were a lot  
easier then the originals to deal with, believe me. I wanted to ask  
you a question. Is it true that you have no memory at all of the time  
you spend as Xian Pu?"  
"Yes. I wake as if no time has passed at all. I don't even  
dream."  
"That's no good, no good at all. That could be a big liability.  
If this Prince Herb catches up with us, that could be very dangerous.  
It would be very bad if you were to change in the middle of the  
conflict. Neither you or Xian Pu would have any idea of the  
situation."  
"I've thought of the same thing myself, but what am I to do  
about it. Notes or any other form of communication between us  
would be useless in those circumstances. It might be best if I turn  
control of my body over to Xian Pu. Accidental dousing with hot  
water is much less likely then cold. It is my carelessness that  
caused the situation, it is my duty to do what ever is necessary to fix  
it."  
"That is an option of course, but it has its downside. For one  
thing, this Prince Herb is well aware of the curses. He could come  
prepared with hot water. I have something else I'd like to try first."  
He held up a stylized tiara that looked like it had been carved from  
some fine pale wood.  
"What is it?" She asked.  
"I won't go into the details, but basically it's a device for  
making a recording of a person's mind. It was not designed for this,  
but I believe it can be used to allow both you and Xian Pu to remain  
self aware while the other is in charge of your mutual body. Now I  
can't force you to wear it, but . . ."  
P got no further, Nodoka reached out and took the wooden  
tiara from him. She lifted it up and placed it on her head, being  
careful to work the bands on either side carefully under her hair.  
"Oh," she said in surprise. "It moved."  
"Yes, it will adjust itself to fit you, or Xian Pu."  
"How long must I wear it?"  
"Always, it needs to be in constant contact to work. It will take  
a day or so to make a complete recording, after that, if it works like  
I hope, you and Xian Pu will be aware of what is going on while  
trapped in the others body. Of course Xian Pu will need to spend a  
full day in control of your shared body so that the device can make  
a recording of her mind as well. So, when do we leave?"  
"Are you coming with us?" Nodoka asked in surprise.  
Agent P shrugged. "Got no where else to go, and from what  
the girls have told me, this planet is not the safest place for someone  
who looks like me. I figure the three of you are so unusual, that no  
one is going to look twice at a pet pig, even if he behaves strange  
from time to time."  
"Then it is best we be off then," Nodoka said firmly.  
  
Overhead, a small single engine plane passed by. But no one  
payed any attention to it. They had far more important things to do  
then to stare at something that had nothing to do with them.  
  
So ends part one. In part two, I cover the return home, and mix in a  
few Amazons to make life more interesting.  
  
Uni and Anna are of course stolen from the marvelous Manga,  
Dominion Tank Police. While my versions are biological rather  
then cybernetic, their appearance is very close, with the addition of  
their tails being my concept.  
  
A special thank you, to Eimii, who created the names for  
Ryouga's spring.  
  
T.H. Tiger  
schell@interlog.com.  
  
  



	6. Default Chapter Title

A fan fiction based on the works of Rumiko Takahashi,  
creator of Ranma 1/2, and, Masaki Kajishima, who I've been  
told is the creator of Tenchi Muyo. Hitoshi Okuda, is the artist  
and creator of the Tenchi Manga, which continues the original  
Tenchi series, more or less.^_^  
  
I have no rights to these characters. Which should come as  
no surprise to anyone.  
  
Previous chapters can be found at these fine locations.  
All of these sites have many other good stories, check them  
out, even if you have all my previous chapters.  
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/  
http://members.xoom.com/gensao/  
http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/thunder/181/ccc.html  
  
T.H. Tiger  
schell@interlog.com  
  
Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?  
Chapter Eight  
Clothes make the Girl?  
  
  
This is an alternative universe story in which Ranma was  
trapped as a girl from day one, due to a foggy encounter with the  
Musk Dynasty.  
Unable to engage his now permanently female son to one of  
Soun Tendo's daughters, Genma was deeply depressed. Until he  
came across an old agreement between himself and Nobuyuki  
Masaki, agreeing that if he should ever have a daughter, she would  
marry Nobuyuki's son, Tenchi. Well, as noted, Genma has recently  
acquired a daughter. ^_^  
  
  
Tenchi Masaki was in hell!  
This fact would have come as a large surprise to his father, or  
any other male observer of his current situation, and some females  
as well. From all appearances, the direct opposite should have been  
the case. After all, how many seventeen-year-old boys wake up in  
bed to find two gorgeous girls cuddling up to him on either side?  
Of course, Tenchi was privy to some facts regarding those girls  
that the casual observer might not be aware of. For instance, the  
tall, well-built, cyan-haired lady on his right was known as Ryouko,  
a former class 'A' galactic criminal, aka, the demon of destruction.  
At least according to Princess Ayeka, but then she seemed to be  
biased on the subject.  
Tenchi had seen Ryouko shatter the foot-thick reinforced  
concrete roof of his late school with one casual gesture. The school  
was late because besides shattering the roof, Ryouko had also  
caused, and walked through, a massive gas explosion that had  
reduced it to rubble. She had done all this while doing her level  
best to reduce Tenchi to a smear of grease. Of course, she now  
claimed that she had only been playing. Tenchi had doubts, big  
doubts.  
The girl on Tenchi's left had the advantage of being human, or  
at least no more inhuman than Tenchi himself. Unlike Ryouko she  
was short, less than five feet in height. Where Ryouko's hair was a  
wild uncontrolled mane, her crimson hair was pulled back in a  
heavy French braid, that at the moment coiled around her shoulder  
and lay across Tenchi's stomach.  
Though both girls' eyes were closed in sleep, they too were  
different. Ryouko possessed slitted yellow eyes, which tended to  
shift color when she was aroused, in one fashion or another. The  
red-haired girl's eyes were a deep maroon, very much like those of  
her aunt, Ayeka, and Tenchi's grandfather.  
They also differed slightly in behavior, if not quite as much as  
they did in appearance. The redhead, for instance, did not make a  
habit of tossing around energy bolts, flying, or walking through  
walls. Instead, she had a tendency toward going insane while in the  
presence of cats, and of coping by becoming a cat herself, in mind if  
not in body. Tenchi had seen her reduce the lower story of his  
home to so much sawdust the evening before. Only the quick action  
of Princess Ayeka and her guardians had kept the upper story  
supported and in one piece long enough to lower it to the ground.  
None of that was obvious at the moment. Ranma looked cute  
as a kitten curled up beside him, her head on his chest and one arm  
curled up so her fist was tucked under her chin. In the crook of her  
other arm was what looked like a small stuffed animal, but was, in  
fact, according to Ryouko, a living creature who would one day  
grow up to become a spaceship.  
Oh, and one final thing about the redhead. Despite a body that  
screamed out its female nature, she insisted that she was, in fact, a  
boy, and she tended to take serious exception to anyone trying to  
treat her as a girl. This put Tenchi in a bit of a difficulty due to her  
rather casual way with clothes, the lack of them that is. Her typical  
attitude of, "Hey! We're all boys here right?" tended to force home  
the fact that despite her claim to former boyhood, her body was  
one-hundred, and then some, percent female.  
To tell the truth, after the initial panic of waking up to find  
himself bracketed by two sleeping wildcats, possibly literally true in  
the case of Ranma, he'd started to enjoy the sensation of the two of  
them pressed against him. He was a healthy male teenager, after all.  
They were, despite Ranma's claim to the contrary, very female, no  
matter what other characteristics they had. But then, he had spotted  
it, the final element that turned the current situation into a hell of  
anticipation. A thing that currently terminated inches below  
Ranma's face, a sunbeam.  
  
He had been laying there, still drowsy, enjoying the warmth of  
his bed and the unusual sensation of being trapped between two  
girls when he'd first noticed it. He had initially attached no  
significance to it. It had appeared on the wall, and in the manner of  
sunbeams, it had moved as the sun rose, first down the wall to the  
floor and then across that.  
It was half way across the room before his mind really started  
to take note of it and where it was headed. Its path was undeviating  
and, therefore, easy to predict. In just a little while, it was going to  
end its journey by shining directly into Ranma's face.  
Ever since he had taken note of that fact, Tenchi's imagination  
had been supplying him with a vivid series of the likely  
consequences of Ranma waking to find herself in her present  
situation. This, of course, was in between episodes of his life  
flashing before his eyes. One: she would still be in cat mode, and  
he was smack dab between her and her favorite cat toy. Two: she  
would be normal, more or less, and if that were the case, he had a  
feeling she was not going to react well to her current situation. In  
either case, Tenchi was looking at a world of hurt.  
For a brief moment he had entertained thoughts of waking  
Princess Ayeka, the one person Ranma seemed to pay any heed to.  
The princess and her sister were currently sleeping a few feet away,  
the damage done to the house having left little remaining of their  
and Ranma's bedroom.  
He had given up the idea after a few casual whispers had done  
nothing other than to cause Ranma to mumble something about  
letting her sleep a few more minutes Pop. After his heart had  
stopped racing, he had concentrated on being as quiet as he could.  
Since then, he had come to the inescapable conclusion that  
there was no escape from this fate. Any action he took toward  
freeing himself would only awaken one or both of the girls, and  
merely hasten the inevitable result.  
Slowly the spot of light on the floor had moved nearer and  
nearer to its goal. It reached Ranma's torso and crept up and over  
the arm she was holding Ryo-oh-ki with. The little cabbit had  
shifted slightly as the warmth penetrated her fur, but had not  
wakened. She'd merely snuggled deeper into the crook of Ranma's  
arm and settled down with a small contented mewl, which drew a  
twitch from Ranma but, fortunately, did not waken her. The  
sunbeam left Ryo-oh-ki and moved across Tenchi's chest, the  
warmth a distinct contrast to the chill Tenchi felt as the bright blot  
finally reached the destination he had been anticipating; Ranma's  
face.  
Ranma's features screwed up slightly as the bright light fell  
across her closed eyes. Tenchi's mind started to chant a liturgy,  
"I'm going to die. I'm going to die." Despite that, the part of his  
mind that was not focused on his soon-to-be demise could not help  
noticing how cute Ranma's scrunched up face was. Tenchi was a  
teenage boy. The insignificant prospect of his impending death  
could not keep him from appreciating certain things.  
  
Ranma's eyes opened, and then shut immediately against the  
glare of the sun. The hand not currently involved in holding Ryo-  
oh-ki slid out from between her head and Tenchi's chest and was  
used as a screen to protect her vision from the brilliance of the early  
morning sun. For a second, she lay there, a blank look on her face,  
but then a look of horror settled on her features, and Tenchi felt his  
stomach lurch with dread.  
"Shit!" Ranma yelled, jumping to her feet. "What the heck is  
the time?" She dashed across the room to where Tenchi's bedroom  
clock lay, ignoring the chaos of the room. "Shit, shit, shit!" Ranma  
cursed when she saw the face of the clock. "Damn, I'm late!"  
Sasami, who had been in that pleasurable daze between sleep  
and waking, was pushed into full awareness by Ranma's activity.  
She sat up with a wide yawn and sat there blinking before asking,  
"Ranma-oneechan, what's wrong?" Ayeka snorted softly and  
blinked her eyes blearily as she woke to greet the new day. Ayeka  
was not a morning person.  
"No time! Here! Look after the squirt! Got to go! Late for  
training!" Ranma blurted out. She thrust a still drowsy Ryo-oh-ki  
into a befuddled Sasami's hands and then literally dove out the  
window. A second later, an impact was heard, followed by an  
expression of pain from Ranma. A few choice curse words  
followed. Tenchi jumped out of bed and rushed to the window,  
leaving Ryouko's head hanging in the air for a second before it  
thumped down on the futon.  
Reaching the window, Tenchi looked out to see Ranma  
rubbing her backside and staring at the house with an expression of  
puzzlement. The fact that the second story window was now at  
ground level had taken her by surprise, Tenchi surmised. However,  
Ranma had no time for mysteries this morning, she was already late,  
and she had a lot to learn, and a short time to do it in. She took off.  
Tenchi watched Ranma go with a dazed expression. Then a  
happy smile crossed his face. He had lucked out. He was still alive.  
He'd dodged the bullet. What a great start to a beautiful day. Then,  
a pair of velvet-covered cables snaked around his neck and a  
breathy voice whispered in his ear.  
"Mmmmm, morning Tenchi." Tenchi flinched as he felt  
Ryouko start nibbling on his ear. "You know, Tenchi," Ryouko  
whispered around her morning snack. "They say that the morning is  
the best time for romance, ne? And the bed is so cold when you're  
alone. Why don't you come back to bed and keep me warm?"  
"You hussy! Release Tenchi-sama this instant! He is  
promised to Ranma-sama!"  
Sasami yawned widely and exited the room as mayhem  
erupted behind her. "Let's see if we can find something to make  
breakfast out of, Ryo-oh-ki," she said. Ryo-oh-ki mewled  
enthusiastically at the idea of food. She hopped out of Sasami's  
arms and began a thorough search of the remains of the lower story  
of the house. She was sure there had been a bushel basket of carrots  
around here somewhere. Sasami giggled and joined her search,  
looking for the remains of the kitchen and any foodstuffs that might  
have survived the events of the night before.  
  
Tenchi flinched as Ayeka administered both medical aid and a  
lecture. "Really, Tenchi-sama," she chided as she stuck a bandage  
on his forehead. (with a little more force than was strictly necessary,  
in his opinion). "You should not encourage that hussy. Poor  
Ranma-sama has enough problems without you making her wonder  
about your feelings for her."  
Tenchi felt rather hard done by. He had hardly had time to  
encourage Ryouko, either in a positive or negative way, what with  
Ayeka starting a fight with the demon girl before he even had time  
to react to her hug.  
  
They were currently sitting outside the house, on one of the  
surviving tatami mats from the lower story. Sasami had started a  
small fire and laid the kitchen grill over it. She was currently taking  
an inventory of all the food she had managed to salvage before  
starting breakfast. Ryouko hovered nearby, a hungry look in her  
eyes, only occasionally directing sardonic glances Ayeka's way, and  
glances at Tenchi that were almost as hungry as the ones she was  
directing at Sasami's efforts. Ryo-oh-ki was slightly off to the side,  
happily gnawing on a large carrot Sasami had salvaged from the  
remains of the storage shed.  
Tenchi was not paying any attention to this. Instead, Ayeka's  
comment on his feelings for Ranma had started him thinking on a  
subject that had been much on his mind recently.  
What were his feelings toward the little redhead? She was  
violent and crude, so much so that she made Ryouko look feminine  
at times. She was about as far from Tenchi's idea of a normal girl  
as you could get. Yet, there was something there. Something about  
her that made him smile just from being in her presence.  
Joy, that was it, Tenchi thought with a small smile. Ranma had  
a joy for life that burned clear for everyone around her to see. She  
smiled more often than frowned. Laughed more often than cried. If  
her story of once being a boy was true, then Tenchi was in awe of  
her. In her position he would have been depressed and withdrawn.  
He was not sure if he'd have been able to walk down the street if it  
had happened to him. Ranma on the other hand, despite the  
occasional grumble, which often seemed more out of reflex than  
any serious emotion, just got on with her life. Why, right now, she  
was up on the hill, eager for a lesson from his grandfather,  
something that Tenchi tended to regard as a chore rather than as  
something pleasurable. That was one reason why he was sitting  
here, letting Ayeka tend to him, rather than going up the hill for his  
own training.  
Tenchi was suddenly consumed with a desire to watch Ranma  
practice. He was sure that she took as much joy in that as she did in  
everything else. He could easily picture her in his mind, laughing  
and joking, his old shirt clinging to her sweaty body as she twisted  
through a complicated kata. The morning sun highlighting all the  
many curves of her body . . . Tenchi wrenched his thoughts away  
from the direction they had been traveling.  
Ranma was a boy! He had to remember that! She had said so  
on numerous occasions. Her father's curse was proof that it was  
possible. Even if she was delusional like her father claimed, she had  
made it clear that she had no interest in him, or in any other boys in  
that way. Even his grandfather had warned him that Ranma needed  
a friend, not a boyfriend. So even if she had never been a boy, he  
still had no business thinking such thoughts about her. If he didn't  
stop, he might turn into his father. Tenchi shuddered at the thought.  
Besides, in all ways possible, she and he were an unlikely  
couple. 'So why,' he asked himself, 'when you have a beautiful girl  
like Ryouko constantly showing her willingness to be with you, do  
your thoughts keep turning to a girl you do not have the least chance  
of knowing romantically? One who has not the slightest interest in  
you, and who, in fact, would likely clean your clock if you even  
suggested anything of a romantic nature to her?'  
Tenchi sighed to himself. He would just have to try and think  
of Ranma the same way he thought of his friends at school. A vision  
of one such friend appeared in his mind's eye; fat, pimply and male.  
A vision of Ranma floated up beside him; clear complexion, sleek,  
well shaped body. Tenchi snorted in derision. Yeah right, he  
thought to himself with a mental sigh. Just treat her like one of the  
boys. No problem.  
  
"Ouch," Tenchi exclaimed, as a particulary vigorous  
application of some stinging salve by Ayeka brought him out of his  
reverie. Ayeka was unrepentant as she finished the last of her  
nursing. Her expression clearly showed she thought Tenchi was  
only getting what he deserved. Looking away from her frown,  
Tenchi sighed again, this time in anticipatory resignation. His  
glance had taken in the scattered remains of the lower story of the  
house. His thoughts regarding Ranma had made him forget, briefly,  
the condition of his home. "I guess I'll have to start cleaning this  
up," he said in a depressed tone. "I don't know where I'm going to  
start though."  
  
Kamidake, one of Ayeka's guardians, the one with the strange  
script on his front in crimson, had been hovering nearby, waiting for  
the princess to finish with Tenchi. Now, as she finished her  
nursing, he spoke up. "There is no need for that Tenchi-sama."  
When both Ayeka and Tenchi turned inquiring looks his way, he  
explained. "I was waiting to inform you, princess. Azaka has  
managed to locate an undamaged pod of some of Ryuu-oh's self-  
repair drones. They cannot restore Ryuu-oh itself, unfortunately.  
They were programmed for the maintenance of the living quarters  
only, not the flight superstructure, but they can easily repair the  
damage to Tenchi-sama's dwelling." As he was talking, a small  
disk-shaped object flew up behind him and blinked its round sensor  
arrays at Tenchi. The sensors gave it a droll expression, and Tenchi  
found himself smiling at it.  
"That is good news," Ayeka said, but then she frowned, and  
added, "but will their storage cells last? We have no way to  
recharge them. If I remember correctly, they are imported and are  
not compatible with Ryuu-oh. I'm sure the auxiliary power modules  
were destroyed in the crash."  
"There will be no need, princess. These are the new models  
with the miniature fusion reactors. No energy cells required. They  
also have a self-replication ability, so with any luck we will soon  
have more than adequate help."  
"Excellent!" Ayeka exclaimed happily. She turned to Tenchi.  
"You go and keep your iinazuke company. I'm sure she will be  
most happy to see you." Ayeka made shooing motions with her  
hands, urging Tenchi toward the stairs leading up to the temple.  
"Go, go. By the time you get back, Kamidake and Azaka, with the  
aid of the drones, will be well on the way to restoring the house."  
"Well, if you're sure?" Tenchi said, as he backed toward the  
shrine steps. Then as Ayeka renewed her shooing motions, he  
smiled and headed toward the shrine on the top of the hill, his vow  
to treat Ranma as one of the boys already forgotten.  
  
"Ayeka-san?" Ayeka turned to see Tenchi's father walking  
toward her. He had a brown paper parcel under one arm and a pair  
of letters in his free hand. He handed one of the letters to her and  
held up the parcel for her to see. "Here are the outfits you wanted  
me to get," he said with a happy smile, and then he winked, and  
went on. "And I got a little something special for her to impress  
Tenchi with." Ayeka smiled in return, a bit weakly however, there  
was something in the way Nobuyuki said . . . No, it was just her  
imagination. She looked at the envelope in her hand in curiosity.  
"That's from Genma," Nobuyuki explained. "He's left to see  
his wife and to try and reason with her. He said he'd call me back if  
he was successful, but he wanted us to make sure she did not find or  
meet Ranma until he gives the all clear. If she shows up here  
without word from him, we're supposed to tell her that he and  
Ranma continued their training trip and are no longer here."  
  
Ayeka frowned. She had noticed Genma's absence, but had  
merely counted it as a small blessing, expecting him to turn up at  
any moment. And while it was welcome news that he had left, she  
was annoyed at him for running off without telling Ranma goodbye.  
He might be a waste of space shape-shifter, but he was the girl's  
father and he owed her at least that much consideration.  
Ayeka was also skeptical of Genma's warning in regards to  
Ranma's mother. She found it hard to believe that any mother  
would treat her child the way Genma insisted his wife had, or that  
any mother could even consider killing her only child for not being  
a boy when clearly she was a girl. She did not know the woman,  
but she did know Genma, and if he disapproved of her, that was a  
ringing endorsement to Ayeka.  
She carefully ripped open the end of the envelope Nobuyuki  
had handed her and extracted the rather rumpled and dirty contents.  
Opening it, she perused the contents for several minutes, while  
Sasami, who had left her cooking, stood nearby, her face alight with  
curiosity.  
"What does it say, Oneechan?" She asked.  
Instead of replying, Ayeka turned the page around and began  
looking at it again. After a minute, Ayeka looked up and waved the  
document in front of Sasami and Nobuyuki. "I have no idea," she  
said in frustration. "This, this is . . . this isn't writing, this is the  
scratchings of an imbecile."  
Ayeka was frustrated and embarrassed. She felt she should  
have been able to read Genma's missive. After all, handwritten  
correspondences constituted most of her personal mail. No  
aristocrat would ever be so crass as to send a machine-generated  
letter to a member of the royal family.  
Of course, what she did not consider was the large number of  
scribes in the capital city who made a good living crafting works of  
art for their customers to send to the various members of the ruling  
family. For if the aristocrats of Jurai were not so crass as to send an  
artificially produced letter, they were not so foolish as to send one  
that the recipient might have difficulty in reading, or that would  
reflect badly on their own abilities. Genma's letter bore the same  
relationship to those documents as a child's mud pie did to the  
products of the finest French kitchens.  
  
"If I may, princess?" Nobuyuki said, taking the letter from  
Ayeka. He looked at it and frowned. Genma had obviously put a lot  
of effort and thought into this to judge by the amount of crossed  
out, smeared, and altered words. It was too bad he hadn't taken the  
effort to place his final version on a clean sheet of paper, or to write  
it when he was not eating in the first place. Still, Nobuyuki had far  
more experience than Ayeka in deciphering documents of this  
nature. It was not out of the ordinary for a client to hand him  
something like this, with the expectation that he would turn it into  
the basis for their dream home. He worked his way through the  
letter, reading it to himself while Ayeka and Sasami waited for his  
translation with barely disguised impatience.  
  
*Girl! You listen to me. Don't mess with Ranma's training.  
Let the old man teach her what little he can. If you try to change her  
into a soft weak girl like yourself, you'll be signing her death  
warrant. Ranma is a martial artist. She has sworn she will marry  
Tenchi, and Tenchi's father has agreed he will honor our agreement.  
That is all that is needed. Ranma is a martial artist. She doesn't need  
your frippery and fancy ideas. She will do what she has promised.  
No more is needed. Leave her alone! Let the old man handle her. If  
you don't, her death will be on your hands!*  
  
Nobuyuki frowned and shook his head. This would never do.  
While Ranma was a real cutey, she had a lot of rough edges. He  
wanted her to be a good wife to his son. After all, they had to spend  
sometime out of the bedroom, and Tenchi deserved a partner as  
wonderful as his mother had been to him. He looked up at Ayeka,  
who was frowning with impatience.  
Ayeka stifled her annoyance and politely asked, "Can you read  
it, Masaki-sama?"  
"Yes, it's nothing complicated. About what you would  
expect," Nobuyuki said, as he crumpled the letter behind his back.  
"Genma asked if you would please teach Ranma to be a real lady, as  
he has done so poorly at it."  
Ayeka blinked in surprise. That was unexpected. Who would  
have thought that the man had that much sense? To Nobuyuki she  
said, "Of course, I'd be honored to do so. It is my duty, after all.  
Ranma is family." She looked at the parcel in Nobuyuki's hands.  
"Those will be a good start. After all, Ranma can hardly feel like a  
princess when she has to dress like a beggar." Then in curiosity, she  
asked. "Who is the other letter for? Is that from Ranma's father as  
well?"  
"Yes. It's for father."  
"May I take it to him?" Ayeka asked, while thinking to herself  
that the sooner she got started on Ranma, the sooner the girl would  
begin to act as befitting her true status as a princess of Jurai. Ayeka  
found herself looking forward to the challenge. Before she could  
start for the shrine stairs, however, Sasami called out to her.  
"Oneechan, if you are going up to see Tenchi-niichan, could  
you tell him and Ranma-oneechan and grandfather that breakfast  
will be ready in an hour?" Ayeka nodded and started toward the  
stairs, at a much more decorous pace than Tenchi's earlier dash. In  
her hand she carried the letter from Genma.  
  
***************************************************  
  
Tenchi oofed and fell back out of the sparring circle for the  
fifth time in ten minutes. Still inside the ring of dirt, Ranma  
watched him with narrowed eyes. She had a bokken clutched in her  
hands and was currently frozen in the position she had taken during  
her last strike at Tenchi.  
Instead of looking happy at her most recent victory, she was  
scowling, and the expression showing in her eyes was far from  
pleased. She stepped back, falling out of the stance she had taken,  
and waited for Tenchi to re-enter the ring. When he did so and took  
a ready position, she failed to emulate him. Instead, she ran a finger  
speculatively up and down the side of the bokken that corresponded  
to the edge on a sword. In an almost casual way, she directed a  
question at Tenchi. "Say, you do wear a cup, don't you?"  
Tenchi blinked, but before he could even begin to reply to this  
sudden, out-of-the-blue comment, Ranma moved. She came in low,  
swinging her weapon so that the tip of the bokken brushed the  
ground, moving in an arc that would bring it up with tremendous  
force.  
Tenchi had time to blanch as realization hit home, but only  
just. Ranma's speed was far in excess of what she had been using  
thus far in their sparring. Before, she had been working her way  
through the various styles that his grandfather had been showing her  
when Tenchi had arrived. There was none of those present in this  
attack. Ranma was holding the weapon as if it were a club, and  
there was no finesse at all in her attack.  
There was no time to think, no time to calculate, only time to  
react. The bokken in his hands seemed to move on its own, just as  
the Tenchi-ken had during the fight with Ryouko the day before.  
Only this time, it was Tenchi's own skill that directed it, a skill  
unencumbered by his mind, which had interfered seriously with his  
sparring up till now. He just couldn't bring himself to fight against  
the cute girl across from him. There was nothing cute about the  
murderous expression on her face now, however.  
Tenchi's bokken swept down and to the side, brushing  
Ranma's weapon out of alignment with its intended targets. One of  
Tenchi's hands released its hold on the hilt of his bokken, while his  
other hand loosened its grip, allowing the bokken to pivot. The  
weapon slid alongside Ranma's, using its force to swing itself  
around until the point was to Tenchi's rear. Bringing his hand  
forward, Tenchi rammed the butt of his weapon directly into  
Ranma's diaphragm. With a sudden gasp of expelled air, Ranma  
folded over Tenchi's arm. Less then a second had elapsed since  
Ranma started her attack.  
  
Tenchi felt horror well up in him as the adrenaline rush left  
him. Ranma's slight body lay cradled over his arm, the hilt of his  
bokken still pressed into her body. He hastily dropped his weapon  
and using both arms eased the wheezing girl over on her back,  
suddenly aware once again of how small she really was, a fact that  
was generally hidden by her vitality of spirit.  
'How could he have let himself lose control that badly?'  
Feelings of self-loathing cascaded through him as he looked down  
into Ranma's flushed face. To his amazement, she looked back up  
at him with a pleased smile on her face.  
Gasping between the words, she said, "Now that's more like it.  
What the heck was you thinking, holding back before? I'd have got  
more practice sparring with a wooden dummy. Keep this up and  
you might even get to keep your balls."  
  
"Here you go, Ryo-oh-ki," Sasami said, handing the small  
cabbit a large carrot. Ryo-oh-ki gave a happy mewl and dragged it  
over to a nice sunny patch of grass, where she happily set to work  
demolishing it. Meanwhile, Sasami handed an eager Ryouko a bowl  
of rice and a fried fish.  
  
  
Ranma stopped talking and started concentrating on recovering  
her breath. As she did so, she became aware of a strange, but  
comfortable feeling permeating her body. Tenchi's body felt warm  
against her's, and his arms seemed to fit around her just right. She  
found herself thinking that this was a heck of a lot better then the  
way her Pop rattled her around whenever he managed to get a lucky  
blow in.  
Ranma closed her eyes for a second and savored the feeling.  
Then, her whole body jerked, and her eyes flew wide open as she  
pulled herself out of Tenchi's grasp. Regaining her feet quickly, she  
looked at the perplexed Tenchi with wide eyes. Her heart beat  
madly in her chest, and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.  
What the heck was she doing? She was a guy. Guy's don't snuggle  
up to other guys.  
Ranma felt heat in her cheeks and realized, to her shame, that  
she was blushing. In an effort to regain her equilibrium, she spoke  
harshly to Tenchi. "I hope you learned good, Tenchi, cuz if you  
keep that bullshit, wimp-ass fighting up, I'll be taking that fancy  
sword from you. It ought to belong to a real man, not some wuss  
who backs off just cuz the person he's fighting's got a pair of tits."  
  
"Ranma-sama, that is no way for a lady to talk! Especially to  
her fiancee!" a fierce voice said, breaking into Ranma's heated  
speech. Both Tenchi and Ranma turned around to see a flushed  
Ayeka standing at the top of the stairs, breathing slightly harder than  
normal after the effort of climbing up the stairs to the shrine.  
After taking a moment to catch her breath, Ayeka continued  
her speech. "It is to Tenchi-sama's credit that he treated you like a  
lady. It is most unfair of you to chide him for proper behavior. I can  
see that your father coming to his senses has happened not a minute  
too soon." Ayeka marched across the stone courtyard of the shrine  
to where Tenchi and Ranma were frozen in place.  
  
Ranma looked at Ayeka with an expression of shock on her  
face. The princess giving her Pop credit for something! A  
suspicious expression crossed her face. What had the old man done  
now? She voiced this question to Ayeka.  
"Your father has gone to see your mother. He has asked that  
while he is away, I endeavor to teach you to behave in a manner  
befitting your gender and status as a princess of Jurai.  
"He what!" Ranma shouted in outrage, not sure which had her  
more upset; her Pop leaving without her, or his deciding to have her  
turned into a lady. After a minute she decided it was the lady thing.  
She'd been expecting Pop to run off, even if his leaving without her  
was a bit of a shock.  
The lady bit, however, that was a surprise. Despite his stupid  
deal to marry her to Tenchi and the promise he'd extracted from her  
to guarantee that she'd go through with it, he had never insisted that  
she act like a girl. Indeed, he had constantly chided her whenever he  
thought she was acting in an unmanly manner. This about face was  
a complete shock. Ranma's face suddenly darkened in anger. Pop  
was abandoning her. Running off was one thing, the old fart did that  
all the time. Ranma would have put it down to his wanting to get  
away from a job he hated and away from the danger zone that the  
Masaki household had become. Eventually, he would have come  
crawling back when his belly was empty.  
Asking Ayeka to turn her into a lady, however, that was a  
different kettle of fish entirely. He might still come back, likely  
would in fact. That wasn't the problem. Her Pop had made it clear  
many times that he believed girls were good for only two things,  
making a man comfortable and providing him with heirs. That was  
their only duty and responsibility in his mind. By asking Ayeka to  
train her, he was showing clearly that he had given up on Ranma  
being his heir. He was as good as saying that her only value to him  
now was to provide the next generation. She no longer had any  
value beyond that.  
Ranma's rage at Genma was so great, she felt like she was  
going to explode. If she had been paying them any attention, she  
would have seen Ayeka and Tenchi stepping back as her battle aura  
flared to unprecedented levels. Katsuhito watched this flare with an  
quirk of his eyebrow.  
Her anger finally expressed itself in words. "You can go to  
hell, Pop!!!" she screamed in the general direction of the bus stop, a  
mile and a half away. "I'm a guy, damn you to hell!! I'll see you fry  
before I turn into some weak, useless, brain dead, uncoordinated,  
soppy girl!!!!"  
Ranma stood panting, her initial anger somewhat diminished  
by her outburst. Once again aware of her surroundings, she felt an  
itching on the back of her neck. Filled suddenly with a strange sense  
of dread, Ranma turned her head slowly around till she was looking  
behind herself to where Ayeka was standing. She gulped in fear as  
she took in the expression on Ayeka's face. "Ahhh, Ayeka-san, I  
didn't . . . I mean I did, but I . . . I --"  
Ranma got no further. With a soft hum, several dozen small  
duplicates of Ayeka's two guardians snapped into view around her.  
There was a crackling of energy, and Ranma suddenly found herself  
floating up into the air. "Hey . . ." Ranma started to protest, only to  
choke off her words as Ayeka flashed her a look rife with promises  
of pain and suffering.  
Satisfied that Ranma was well caged, Ayeka turned to Tenchi  
and Katsuhito, her face undergoing a transformation as she did so.  
She smiled politely at them and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt your  
training, but as you can see, Ranma is in great need of some  
lessons."  
"Hey, I don . . ."  
Once again, Ranma trailed off as Ayeka whipped her head  
around, her expression once again fierce. Ranma found herself  
quailing under that look. "Scary," she whimpered in a small voice.  
Ayeka once more turned a pleasant countenance toward  
Tenchi and his grandfather. "Please, have a good day," she said to  
them, then shouted, "Kamidake, Azaka."  
With a loud "Hai!" the two guardians appeared in a blur of  
motion. Ayeka nodded toward the captured Ranma, and the two  
upright logs took positions on either side of her.  
"Are the repair drones done?" Ayeka asked.  
"Yes, princess," Kamidake and Azaka confirmed.  
"In that case, you may transport Ranma-sama to the  
bathroom," she told them. She looked at Ranma, and said, "You  
may wash off the sweat of your training, and when I get there, we  
will try on your new clothes. Is that all right with you?" Her eyes  
bored into the redhead's like lasers, making it clear what answer she  
expected from her captive.  
Whatever thoughts might have been going through Ranma's  
head stayed there. She numbly nodded her head in assent and then  
sent a beseeching glance toward Tenchi. Too late for him to do  
anything however, as with a flash, she and the guardians were gone.  
Ayeka gave a polite nod of her head to Tenchi and Katsuhito  
and started down the stairs at a slow dignified pace.  
  
Tenchi stared after her, and as he did so, a vision of Ranma  
floated up in his mind. Just before she had vanished, it had seemed  
to him that she had turned a pleading look toward him, one that  
begged for a rescue. He started to move toward the stairs, intending  
to plead Ranma's case with Ayeka. He was not sure what, if  
anything, he could accomplish, but he was unable to resist the  
entreaty that had been present in those large liquid eyes.  
A whack across the head from his grandfather's bokken  
stopped him in his tracks. "Ouch, grandfather!" He protested.  
"Leave the girls to themselves, Tenchi. You can peak at  
Ranma in the bath some other time. You lost five out of six matches  
with an untrained girl. You obviously need a refresher. Let us start  
with the basic kata. Begin!"  
Tenchi had no choice in the matter. He didn't even bother  
protesting his innocence. Instead, he assumed a ready position. But  
while he appeared outwardly calm, he found he could not help  
worrying about Ranma. He had never seen the Princess acting so  
fierce toward anyone except Ryouko, and Ranma was much more  
fragile than the former space pirate. He hoped she was going to be  
all right.  
  
Ayeka opened the door to the bathroom to hear Ranma  
remonstrating with the two Guardians. Indeed, she had backed poor  
Azaka halfway up the wall till his top was pressed firmly against the  
ceiling, and looking like he would be delighted to keep going, if  
only he could. "You perverts, how can you stand there and expect a  
poor innocent girl to take a bath in front of you? Ain't you got no  
respect? Ain't you gentlemen?"  
"You may leave now," Ayeka said, and Azaka did so, so fast  
that Ranma's hair was pulled out straight by the slipstream.  
Kamidake followed his partner, but at a more decorous pace.  
Ayeka caught the back of Ranma's shirt as she tried to leave as  
well. "Where do you think you are going?"  
"Well, you said we could leave . . ." Ranma trailed off at the  
look Ayeka gave her. "Okay, okay," she said in a weak voice and,  
giving in to the inevitable, stripped her clothes off. She shuddered  
as Ayeka dumped a bucket of cold water over her head and meekly  
began to scrub down.  
Ayeka stood nearby, watching to make sure Ranma did not  
skimp in any way. As she did so, she thought back to the situation  
she had found when she had arrived at the shrine; Ranma cradled in  
Tenchi's arms, her face giving every sign of contentment. And then  
that expression had vanished as Ranma had pushed herself away  
from Tenchi. It was not the first time Ayeka had seen signs that  
Ranma was not indifferent to Tenchi. There were the times she  
pulled that hag, Ryouko away from him, for instance. Ayeka had  
also seen the small girl reject those feelings before as well.  
It was clear to Ayeka that no matter how much Ranma  
protested the fact, she was clearly smitten with Tenchi. It was only  
the barbaric upbringing by her idiot of a father that kept her from  
realizing her feelings. Those walls needed to be broken down. She  
would never dream of forcing Ranma to do anything she truly felt  
degrading, but this was a case of Ranma not understanding her own  
heart. For that reason, Ayeka felt justified in taking some very  
strong steps.  
  
If Sasami had been there to see the look on her sisters face, she  
would have recognized it. Every now and then Ayeka got a notion  
in her head, and absolutely nothing would stand between herself  
and realizing it. She had such a look when she decided she was  
going to find her brother, a task that had eluded the entire Juraian  
navy. If Sasami had been there in the bathroom, she would have  
told Ranma to run, run and never look back. But she wasn't.  
  
Ayeka thought on what steps to take as Ranma continued to  
wash off the sweat and grime of her training. Deep in thought, she  
turned on the tap and began to fill the rinse bucket. As she did she  
asked in a very serious tone of voice, "Ranma, could I ask you a  
question?"  
Ranma looked up, peering at her through soapy lather. "Sure,  
Ayeka-san. What do you want to know?"  
"As I understand it, you swore on your honor that you would  
marry Tenchi and have children to continue your family line. Is that  
right?"  
Ranma grimaced. "Yeah, the old man conned me pretty good.  
Should know better than to believe anything Pop says or does."  
"You don't think much of your father?"  
"Why should I?" Ranma said in disgust. She looked at Ayeka  
and added, "He's as crooked as a snake, and don't even know the  
meaning of honor."  
"I see," Ayeka said thoughtfully, an idea firming in her mind  
as she lifted the bucket up in preparation for rinsing Ranma off.  
"And tell me. How long after you promised on your honor to marry  
Tenchi did you start thinking of ways to get out of the agreement?"  
  
"Close your mouth, dear. You'll get soap in it," Ayeka said, as  
she dumped the bucket over Ranma's head.  
  
Ranma was still in a daze from Ayeka's question when they  
arrived at their bedroom. Was she really no better than Pop? That  
was the sort of thing he would do, skipping out on a vow of honor  
seconds after making it. Ranma's preoccupation was so great, she  
didn't really take in the clothes someone had laid out on her futon.  
Several dresses and various other feminine garb, including panties  
and bras, were neatly arranged in order of size.  
Ranma sometimes thought that to her Pop, honor was what  
you did when someone was watching. That was how he acted,  
anyway. How he talked was another matter entirely. To hear him  
talk, honor was all a man had. If he didn't have honor, he had  
nothing, was nothing. That was the attitude Ranma had been raised  
with. And even when she had grown up and realized that Genma  
talked the talk much better than he walked the walk, she had taken  
pride in the fact that she, unlike him, took her honor with great  
seriousness.  
Or so she had thought. Now it looked like somewhere,  
sometime, she had turned into her Pop. The idea was not a  
comfortable one. She turned to Ayeka, a worried look on her face.  
The princess, as far as Ranma could tell, was someone who truly  
understood honor. "Ayeka-san, do you think I should marry Tenchi?  
I'm not really a girl. Isn't it lying to him to go through with it?"  
There was a hopeful tone in her voice, but her worried eyes  
betrayed her fears of what the answer would be.  
  
This was the sort of question Ayeka had been hoping for. Both  
because it showed Ranma had faith in her, and because it gave her a  
chance to start repairing the damage Genma had done to Ranma.  
She looked Ranma straight in the eye, and said, "We both know that  
whatever you might once have been, you are now a girl. You can  
have babies. I can think of no purer proof of what you are." Ranma  
flinched visibly at that, but Ayeka bulled ahead. "That means you  
can physically carry out your promise, and therefore, I think you  
should fulfill your vow."  
  
Ranma had been halfway expecting the answer she got, but it  
still sent a shock through her system. Her entire body seemed to  
slump, and her already small form seemed to shrink in on itself. Her  
head hung in dejection, but despite all that, she made no protest to  
Ayeka's pronouncement. She was not her Pop. Her honor meant  
something to her, and she would keep it, no matter what the cost.  
  
To Ayeka, a member of a royal family, arranged marriages for  
political reasons were the norm. She had loved her brother and had  
looked forward to the marriage her parents had arranged between  
the two of them, but even if that had not been the case, she would  
have done her duty.  
That did not mean she believed Ranma should marry someone  
she disliked, or found disgusting. If Ayeka had not believed that  
Ranma had genuine, if deeply suppressed, feelings for Tenchi, she  
would never have answered her question the way she did.  
That did not mean, however, that she thought Ranma was  
ready to marry Tenchi here and now. Such a course would be a  
disaster. Ranma was far from being the lady she needed to become  
in order to properly fulfill her duties toward Tenchi. That was why,  
after depressing Ranma with her first answer, she set out to ease her  
mind.  
Ayeka reached over and lifted Ranma's chin, causing the  
slumping girl to look at her. "Of course, it's out of the question that  
you marry Tenchi-sama soon. You are still a child, after all."  
  
Mixed emotions surged through Ranma; euphoria at the  
prospect of putting off marrying Tenchi, and indignation at being  
called a child. As that was the last thing Ayeka said, that was the  
first thing she replied to. "I'm not a child!" she protested, and then  
almost bit her tongue as she realized she was arguing for an early  
wedding. 'Stupid, stupid, keep your mouth shut you baka,' she  
thought to herself. She looked up at Ayeka with dread in her eyes,  
convinced, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that  
Ayeka would suddenly turn into a wimp and back off on her  
statement.  
  
Ayeka smiled at Ranma's protestation and asked a question,  
seemingly out of the blue. "Ranma, how old are you?"  
"Huu? I'm sixteen. I had my birthday about two weeks after I  
was cursed."  
"Well, there. You see? On Jurai you would be far too young to  
get married legally," Ayeka said with a smile, crossing her fingers  
behind her back.  
  
While it was true that sixteen was an unthinkable age to get  
married on Jurai, it was because at that age the average Juraian girl  
would not have even reached puberty. Ayeka saw no need to go into  
that, however. Instead, she pressed home her point with Ranma.  
  
"As you are Juraian, you are much too young to even think of  
marrying Tenchi-sama. I'm afraid I simply could not allow it."  
Ayeka paused and gave the impression of being deep in thought.  
Finally, she nodded and said, "There is no choice. You will have to  
wait till you are older. At least two years."  
  
Ranma felt euphoria filling her body, but she managed to keep  
her wits. "Gee. I don't know. Seems you are right about me still  
being a kid. After all, this body might only be fourteen or so. Maybe  
I should wait till I'm as old as you are. I don't mind waiting ten or  
twelve years hardly at all."  
  
Ayeka's expression became slightly strained, but with some  
effort she kept the smile on her face. "That was not quite what I  
meant. In relative terms, given the difference in our aging rates, in  
two years you will be as old as I am. That is more than enough time  
for you to mature and to learn to adapt to your new situation."  
Ayeka gave Ranma a stern glance. "That does not mean that you  
can delay your training in the female arts. Promise me that you will  
try your best."  
Ranma nodded her head. While shorter then she might have  
wished for, the pleasure of a two-year stay of execution would have  
made here agree to just about anything. A lot could happen in two  
years. Not, she told herself firmly, that she was still trying to duck  
her promise. She wasn't her Pop. She'd made that promise, and  
she'd stick to it.  
She'd show her stupid father what honor was all about. The  
stupid old man wanted it both ways. He wanted her to stay a boy in  
spirit, but still marry some guy so the family line would continue.  
Well, boys didn't marry boys, she'd given her word, and she was  
stuck with it, but all that meant was that she was going to have to  
become a girl in truth. It was a hard thing, but honor was a harsh  
taskmaster. Ranma felt very noble and self-sacrificing. She made a  
vow to herself. She could do anything she set her mind to, and she  
was going to become the best girl in the world.  
That is, unless she managed to get the cure she needed from  
the Musk. Then all bets were off. She'd be back to being a boy, and  
boys don't marry boys. It wouldn't be like she was ducking out on  
her promise, after all. It just wouldn't be possible to do it was all.  
She smirked inside. Yep, a lot could happen in two years. She  
smiled wildly as she hummed a little tune in her head. 'Never going  
to marry no boy. Never going to marry no boy.'  
  
"Now that we have settled that," Ayeka said, oblivious to the  
thoughts running through Ranma's mind, "let's take a look at the  
clothes Tenchi-sama's father picked out for you. I think you'll look  
very nice in this green one."  
Ranma groaned inwardly, her just-made vow to take her  
female training seriously wilting under the force of reality, but  
having won so much, she was prepared to give up a little. And the  
truth be known, she was starting to find the idea of wearing  
Tenchi's old clothing a little disturbing. The knowledge that the  
shirt she had been wearing had once been worn by Tenchi had  
started to make her feel more than a little weird.  
Without any further urging from Ayeka, Ranma picked up a  
bra and slipped it on backwards. Fastening the catch in the back of  
it, she pulled it around her body till she could tuck herself into it.  
Only then did Ranma become aware of Ayeka looking at her with  
surprise.  
"Ranma-chan?" Ranma flinched. "You've worn a bra before?"  
Ranma sweated as she realized she'd given herself away.  
'Damn, pay attention to what you're doing stupid.' She gave a  
nervous laugh. "Yeah, sort of. A lady near where we were camping  
a month or so ago gave me one. Said something about her son was  
bad enough as it was without that sort of temptation around. She  
was a weird lady. When I asked where her son was so I could keep  
away from him, she said he was with his girlfriend in her flying  
saucer. You ever hear anything so silly . . ."  
Ranma trailed off as she suddenly realized who she was  
talking to. She gave a small self-conscious laugh and continued.  
"Anyway, I was curious, and I'd been having a bit of trouble with  
them, my tit . . . breasts I mean, so I tried it. Took me a while to  
work out how to put it on, but that's why I know how. Not that I'm  
no expert or nothing," she hastened to assure Ayeka.  
"But you weren't wearing one when you came here, and you  
had none in your bags."  
"Yeah, Pop caught me wearing it. He burned it and gave me  
hell about how I was being weak, and giving in to the curse, and  
that I was a boy, not a girl."  
Ayeka fumed - how like the man! "Well, you're to wear one of  
those from now on. Proper ladies do not go without. Now, let's get  
you dressed. Have you worn a dress before?"  
"No, that would have felt too strange. I mean the bra helped  
my martial arts by keeping my tit . . . breasts under control, but a  
dress would have just got in the way, and anyway, Pop would have  
caught on too soon. I got away with the bra for two weeks before he  
found out."  
As she had been talking, Ranma had been examining the  
selection of dresses on the bed. They didn't look _ too _ bad. Her  
eyes fell on something black and lacy, and she picked it up, only to  
find that it was actually two pieces. She examined them curiously,  
and then snorted. "Man, I thought Tenchi's dad was supposed to be  
smart. Looks like he got took. These must have been second-hand  
or something. Half the material is gone."  
Ayeka who had been standing beside Ranma, deciding which  
of the three dresses on the bed to put on her, looked at the objects in  
Ranma's hands and suddenly blushed crimson. She snatched the  
matching panties and bra from the surprised redhead and quickly  
stuffed them in a random drawer. Ranma blinked in surprise at  
Ayeka's reaction and asked, "What's the matter? Why'd you stuff  
them in there? It ain't like anyone is going to ever wear them. What  
with all those holes in them. You might as well trash them."  
Ayeka just blushed deeper and refused to talk, instead holding  
up a light green dress and holding it against Ranma. She was going  
to have to have a talk with Tenchi's father about what was  
appropriate wear for a young girl. The bra and panties in the drawer  
were never going to grace Ranma's body. She changed track  
slightly and rethought her position; well, maybe on her wedding  
night.  
  
****************************************************  
  
It was some time later that Tenchi made his way down the  
stairs, his body aching in every place it was possible to do so, and in  
a few places he would have said it was not possible as well.  
The workout his grandfather had put him through had been as  
intensive as any he had ever experienced. It had been more than  
sufficient to drive his worries about Ranma out of his mind for the  
duration. Now, however, his thoughts had once again turned to the  
look of entreaty she had sent him at the shrine. Even though he  
knew in his heart that Ayeka would do Ranma no harm, he could  
not help but feel guilt over not doing something to help her. He'd  
grown rather fond of protecting her, he realized.  
  
His vision was suddenly obscured by the face of someone else  
who was clearly in distress. Tenchi pulled back in shock as Sasami  
looked up at him, her eyes large and luminous with unshed tears.  
"Tenchi-niichan, you're mean!" The tears that filled Sasami's  
eyes spilled out and trickled down her cheeks. "Oneechan and  
Ranma-oneechan didn't eat my breakfast, Nobuyuki-sama was too  
busy with Azaka and Kamidake to eat, and you and Grandfather  
didn't come. No one wanted my breakfast but Ryouko- oneechan  
and Ryo-oh-ki. You're all mean!"  
  
"Ahhh," Tenchi murmured, rubbing the back of his head with  
his hand. He dropped to one knee so his eyes were level with  
Sasami's. "I'm sorry, Sasami. I was so busy with Grandfather, I  
forgot." His stomach gave a rumble, causing him to give a small  
laugh. "But I'm very hungry now, so I'll gladly eat whatever you  
have, even if it's cold."  
Sasami's face screwed up in misery, and tears streamed down  
her face as she cried out, "But there's nothing left. Your father  
asked me to cook all the food I could find so it wouldn't spoil  
before the house was fixed. And Ryouko-oneechan ate everything."  
  
Sasami's words were punctuated by a load burp from nearby.  
Tenchi looked over to see a rather bloated Ryouko sprawled on the  
ground, numerous empty containers surrounding her. His stomach  
once again rumbled, and it was his cheeks the tears now flowed  
down. "I see," he said in a weak voice. "I guess I'll have to go into  
town to get some more supplies, then." He groaned as he thought of  
the long walk and the even longer bus ride ahead of him.  
Ayeka's voice came from behind Tenchi. "That sounds like a  
good idea. Ranma and I need to buy some supplies as well."  
Tenchi turned, a smile on his face, intending to express the  
fact he would be happy with the company. His voice died in his  
throat when he spied Ayeka's companion. Not even the self-  
conscious expression on her face could detract from the vision  
Ranma presented.  
  
There was nothing spectacular about the pale green dress  
Ranma was wearing. Or in the way her unbound hair fell in a  
cascade around her shoulders and down her back. The ribbons that  
held her hair back from her face could be bought for a dime-a-piece  
in any store and were in no way unique. The black shoes on her feet  
were perfectly ordinary, and the white socks with the decorative  
tops could be seen on thousands of school girls. None of the things  
she was wearing were in any way out of the ordinary, but somehow,  
when taken as a whole, along with Ranma's natural beauty, they  
created an image that could stop traffic.  
  
Beside him, Sasami expressed Tenchi's opinion to perfection.  
"Kawaii."  
To Tenchi's surprise Ranma blushed slightly, and said, "Yeah,  
I clean up pretty good, don't I?"  
"Oooohhhhhhhhh, how beautiful, how wonderful, how lucky  
you are Tenchi!" Nobuyuki popped up with a camera in his hand,  
the lens inches from Ranma's cleavage. Ranma reared back in  
shock. A second later, Nobuyuki was a faint dot in the sky as he  
headed toward the lake. Ranma stood there panting, her hand still  
raised in the follow-through to the punch that had sent Tenchi's  
father sailing.  
"Geez, what's with that guy?!" Ranma shouted, clearly rattled.  
Ayeka gave a cough and Ranma wilted. "Ah, I mean, Oh _ he _  
startled _ me. I _ was _ so _ scared." Ayeka nodded in satisfaction.  
Beside Tenchi, Sasami big-sweated and said in a soft voice,  
"Scary."  
Tenchi nodded his head in agreement. Out of the corner of his  
mouth, he asked. "Sasami, do you have pod people on Jurai?"  
  
A half-hour walk and a fifteen-minute wait later, they boarded  
the bus to town. Their party consisted of Tenchi, Ranma, Sasami,  
Ryo-oh-ki, and somehow, having gotten himself out of the lake and  
into dry clothes in time, Nobuyuki. This far out on the route, the  
bus was mostly empty, only a few dozing boys heading into the city  
for a night on the town.  
Ayeka had arranged, in a not-too-subtle manner, for Ranma  
and Tenchi to sit on the rear bench, while everyone else sat at the  
front, with the exception of Ryo-oh-ki, who was currently curled up  
on Ranma's lap sleeping off her heavy breakfast.  
Ayeka was taking nothing for granted, as Nobuyuki found out  
as he tried to get a little closer to the couple. Tenchi winced at the  
discharge of energy as his father ran smack into one of Ayeka's  
force fields. The bus driver, understandably startled by a lightning  
strike inside his bus, jerked his head around to see what had  
happened. This caused him to swerve the bus from side to side as he  
spotted Nobuyuki's slightly charred form standing in the middle of  
the bus. As he watched in shock, Nobuyuki puffed out a cloud of  
black smoke and shakily made his way back to his seat, holding  
onto the seat backs in order to avoid being tossed about by the bus  
as it continued to swerve.  
The bus's gyrations caused the unprepared Ranma, her hands  
filled with sleeping cabbit, to slide across the seat and firmly up  
against Tenchi. Sitting together, Sasami and Ayeka were also  
tossed about, but they managed to stay in their seat, bracketed as  
they were on three sides, and having their hands free. Tenchi,  
braced in the corner, was able to get his hands up in time to catch  
Ranma.  
  
Once again, Ranma suddenly found herself pressed against  
Tenchi, his arms partially wrapped around her. She suppressed her  
first urge, which was to deck him. Girls did not deck boys for things  
that weren't their fault. Besides, she had her hands full of cabbit.  
That prevented her from acting on her first instinct. Her initial  
response having been suppressed, she had to think, which delayed  
any further action from her for several minutes. During that time  
she became aware of the same pleasant, warm, and safe sensation  
she had felt at the shrine.  
She flinched as if Tenchi's hands had suddenly become red  
hot and she practically levitated away from him. Her face twisted up  
in a scowl, and one hand closed into a fist. Tenchi flinched, closing  
his eyes in anticipation. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes and  
saw that Ranma had lowered her hand. It was still clenched into a  
white-knuckled fist, however.  
  
The bus driver began to slow the bus, intending to get to the  
bottom of this. It would be his head if one of his passengers were  
electrocuted by a short in the bus' wiring. Ayeka, pleased with the  
way things were going, did not want the two in the back interrupted.  
She called out to the bus driver, "Keep going!" He ignored her and  
kept braking.  
"I said, keep _ going _ !" This time Ayeka spoke in a tone of  
voice that the servants at the palace had long ago learned meant,  
'take cover'. The bus driver did not know Ayeka that well, but the  
tone of her voice caused him to look toward her. Ayeka glared  
daggers at him. Suddenly, several small objects appeared out of  
nowhere. He looked at them in shock, which turned to outright  
panic as small bolts of lighting arced between them. Remembering  
the charred figure in the middle of the bus, he suddenly lost all  
inclination to stop. Facing front, he got the bus back up to speed,  
and sighed with relief when a look in the rear view mirror showed  
that they, whatever they were, were gone. Soon, he was once again  
cruising at eighty kilometers-an-hour, glad that he'd escaped the  
explosion.  
  
Ranma seemed to be having an argument with herself,  
speaking softly, but in intense tones. After a few moments, she  
looked up at Tenchi with a strained smile on her face. "Tenchan,  
you really shouldn't be so forward. After all, we're not married  
yet." She gave a high-pitched giggle and lowered her eyes back  
down to the slumbering Ryo-oh-ki.  
Tenchi sweated; this was starting to get very scary. It was time  
to finally follow his grandfather's instructions about being a friend  
to Ranma. Maybe he could find out what the heck was wrong with  
her. To that end he cleared his throat and said, "I enjoyed sparring  
with you this afternoon. I hope I didn't disappoint you too much."  
"Oh Tenchan. You could never disappoint me. It was so nice  
of you to let me win all those times. Being a poor weak girl and all.  
I hope you weren't too mad at me when I got all angry and  
unladylike. Tee hee."  
Tenchi stared at her in shock. Had she just said Tee hee? Yes,  
she had. Tenchi's face hardened, and he took Ranma by the  
shoulders. "Ranma, stop this!" he ordered. Holding Ranma firmly in  
place, he looked around the bus and called out at the top of his  
voice, "Ryouko, I don't know how you did this, but I want you to  
stop right now! Bring back the real Ranma this instant!"  
  
Several miles away, Ryouko gave a powerful sneeze that woke  
her from her after-banquet nap. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes she  
looked around. "Tenchi! Sasami! Red! . . . Sourface? Where the  
heck is everyone?"  
  
Back on the bus, Tenchi was still yelling, which was drawing  
looks from the few other passengers and a large sweat drop from the  
bus driver, who wanted nothing more than to make it the last few  
miles to his final stop of the day. He pressed down on the gas,  
sending the large bus rocketing down the back road with predictable  
results.  
Sasami and Ayeka grabbed the seat in front of them as they  
bounced higher and higher. The other passengers did similarly,  
several crying out to the bus driver to slow down.  
  
Tenchi, gripping Ranma by the shoulders and looking around  
wildly for a certain space pirate he knew had to be here, was, like  
Ranma earlier, caught off guard by the bus's sudden gyrations. He  
lost his balance and fell forward, pushing Ranma flat against the bus  
seat and settling firmly down on top of her. Ryo-oh-ki, who had  
finally woken, gave a startled mewl and just barely escaped being  
crushed as she leapt from Ranma's arms.  
  
Ranma had been surprised by Tenchi's sudden shouting and  
had wondered if Ryouko had maybe done something to the boy  
while she had not been around to protect him, when he lurched  
forward. Tenchi's actions were very similar to certain male type  
behavior that Ranma had become far too familiar with for her  
liking. For some reason, perverted boys, and men, seemed to  
consider her the perfect target. Up till now one of the things she  
most liked about Tenchi was that he had never once tried to grab a  
cheap feel. Now suddenly, out of the blue, he seemed to be making  
up for lost time. She had time for just one quick thought. 'Geez, if  
I'd know acting like a perfect girl was going to do this to the poor  
guy, I'd never have agreed to go along with Ayeka.'  
  
The combination of him suddenly pressing her down on the  
seat and then falling on top of her, joined with the sudden jolt of  
fear that Ryo-oh-ki's mewl sent through her, was more than  
adequate to stop her from even thinking of continuing her version of  
girl-like behavior.  
With a scream of, "Get the heck off of me, you pervert!" she  
laid a lovely right cross to his chin. Tenchi was thrown across the  
bus and against the wall. For a second he lay there, eyes glazed,  
then they focused and he gave a shout of joy. "Ranma, you're  
back!!"  
Ranma eeped in dismay as Tenchi suddenly rocketed across  
the bus and picked her up in a bone-cracking hug. At the same  
moment, Ryouko, who had homed in on the group via her link with  
Ryo-oh-ki, suddenly phased through the back of the bus with a cry  
of, "Tenchi, you're so mean. How could you . . . What the hell is  
going on here?!! Red, what the hell do you think you're doing?!!"  
"What's it look like, you old mummy? I'm trying to get this  
pervert off of me. What's it to you?"  
"Oh Ranma! I'm so glad you're back!"  
"What? Tenchi! You let her go right now. She's not even  
interested in you. Come hug me like that."  
"What do you mean I'm not interested in him? He's my  
fiancee. You keep your grubby paws off him you mummy."  
"How dare you! What right do you have to keep Tenchi, when  
you'll never give him the love he needs?"  
"Ha! Shows how much you know. I got honor, you hear? I  
said I'd marry him and that's just what I'm going to do. Hey!  
Tenchi, you pervert! Watch the hands!"  
"Oh, Ranma. I'm so glad you're all right."  
The rest of the conversation was mercifully drowned out as the  
rear of the bus became ground zero. Ayeka, who was being crushed  
by the small mass of humanity trying to get as far away from the  
rear as possible, sweated and muttered to herself, "I guess it's going  
to take a lot more than clothes to make Ranma a girl."  
The bus driver tried his level best to push the gas pedal  
through the floor.  
  
Much later, after a rather eventful, if predictable, day of  
shopping, they got back home. After bandaging up their exteriors  
and getting some food in their interiors, they gathered in the living  
room to relax in whatever manner appealed to them.  
Tenchi slumped on the couch, his legs stretched out in front of  
him and English textbook in his hands. It was only a matter of time  
before he would have to begin attending school again. He didn't  
want to be too far behind when he did. He was dressed in his usual  
black pants and white shirt.  
Ranma sat cross-legged on the couch beside Tenchi, a bundle  
of martial art mangas between them. Ranma had changed from her  
dress into an outfit she had bought while shopping with Ayeka. A  
blouse with wooden ties that was so green, it might as well have  
been flourescent was tucked into a pair of baggy black pants that  
were also unique, color-wise. They were not one shade of black but  
rather were smeared haphazardly with several; from a dusty pale  
gray, to one that was so dark, hints of purple were present. Ranma  
had found them in a bargain bin, along with several hundred others,  
all exactly the same. She had reacted with something close to glee at  
the discovery they were cheap enough that she could buy three sets  
with her limited pocket money.  
It had taken a bit of effort on her part to convince Ayeka, but  
by pointing out that she needed clothes she did not have to worry  
about damaging during her training sessions, she had gotten the  
princess to agree with her choice.  
Both garments were loose fitting, and while they could not  
hide Ranma's figure, they did work quite well in minimizing it.  
Ryo-oh-ki was laying in the nest provided by Ranma's crossed legs.  
While perusing the latest adventures of the Dragonball gang with  
one hand, Ranma evoked pleasurable murmurs by stroking Ryo-oh-  
ki's tummy with the other.  
Ayeka was sitting in one of the large easy chairs combing  
Sasami's hair, the younger girl was perched on a footstool in front  
of her older sister. Ayeka occasionally glanced at Ranma's clothes  
with some vexation. She was not sure which she found more  
annoying: the fact that she had not been able to argue successfully  
against buying them; that the outfits might as well have been sacks  
for all the good they did Ranma's figure, or that Ranma had  
selected three of the outfits, all exactly alike. Looking at the eye-  
straining color of the shirt and the blotchy black of the pants, Ayeka  
had no problem guessing why they had been so cheap. She was just  
glad that Ranma had only been able to afford three pairs. The way  
she went through clothes, they would not last long.  
Ayeka was also mildly annoyed that Ranma had rejected her  
advice on which outfits to buy. There had been tops available in  
several different colors, if not as cheap, or garish as the ones Ranma  
had bought. But, when Ayeka had suggested several different tops,  
or maybe some outfits of a different style altogether, the redhead  
had looked at her as if she were speaking an alien language. Even  
when she had offered to pay for them herself and pointed out the  
advantages of mixing and matching, Ranma had declined.  
In Ranma's own words, the outfits were comfortable, cheap,  
and easy to move in. What difference did it make what color they  
were? Ayeka sighed. Ranma had made such a good start this  
morning but she had rapidly backslid after the incident on the bus.  
Ayeka's jaw firmed as she vowed to continue the fight. She  
was not going to give up. Ranma would become a lady! She vowed  
this on her honor as a princess of Jurai. Ayeka took one more look  
at Ranma and added a rider to her vow. Ranma would also learn  
fashion sense, no matter how painful the acquiring was.  
Behind Tenchi and Ranma, Ryouko was half laying, half  
floating, atop the back of the couch. Every now and then she would  
reach down a hand, intending to twirl a finger in Tenchi's hair.  
Curiously, every time she attempted this, Ranma would apparently  
reach a particularly exciting part in her manga, causing her to shoot  
her hands out in imitation of the action inside. Somehow, her  
upthrust hands always managed to strike Ryouko's hand, knocking  
it away from Tenchi. Ranma would apologize and go back to  
petting Ryo-oh-ki and reading her manga, while Ryouko would go  
back to waiting for Ranma's guard to drop. They both seemed to be  
enjoying the impromptu sparring match.  
If this behavior seemed a bit mild for the two of them, Tenchi  
and Ayeka had, speaking to the person they each had the most  
influence on, laid down the law. They had expressed in no uncertain  
terms how unhappy they would be if the newly refurbished home  
was destroyed. Any fighting in the house would be met with the  
most extreme displeasure. Neither Ryouko nor Ranma wished to  
annoy their respective lecturers, so they had promised to be good. It  
was, however, possibly too much to expect them to live in perfect  
peace, hence their current activity. No doubt they would start  
making faces at each other soon.  
The final members of the group, Nobuyuki and Katsuhito,  
were each seated in an easy chair. Nobuyuki had his favorite  
camcorder on the floor beside his chair, ready to snatch up if either  
Tenchi or Ranma looked like doing anything romantic. At the  
moment, this seemed unlikely and so most of his attention was on  
the TV, which was turned down low so as not to distract Tenchi  
from his studying.  
Katsuhito was reading a letter, the one Genma had written, and  
that Ayeka had finally remembered to deliver. Genma had been a  
bit more certain of the tone he wanted to take with Katsuhito, and as  
a result, this effort was a great deal more legible then Ayeka's had  
been. Also, a lot longer.  
  
*Master, I beseech you, take Ranma under your wing. I know  
she's only a girl, but she has some small talent and is currently the  
repository for all I have managed to teach her. Till I can pass that  
knowledge on to her son she is the sole repository of the hopes and  
dreams of the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts. She  
is lazy I admit, but I'm sure a master of your stature can drive some  
small amount of knowledge into her.  
Don't be afraid to be hard on her. She needs to be tough. Is it  
not said that the lot of a martial artist is not an easy one? I ask only  
that you keep her away from her mother. It gives me great pain to  
speak ill of a member of your family, but I fear Nodoka's reaction  
when she discovers Ranma is not the son Nodoka supposes her to  
be. Please give me time to work on my wife. If she should show up  
without me, hide Ranma from her. It could very well save the girl's  
life.  
On the subject of Ranma's life, I would also ask that you do all  
you can to keep Ranma from going back to China. She has told me  
of your tale, but even if the so-called cure existed, it would do her  
little good as she is not cursed as I am, but merely suffering from a  
delusion. If she goes back to China she is as good as dead. I know I  
can trust you to keep her from throwing her life away. She is still  
young and foolish. She must bear the heir to the Saotome school  
before she can take such a risk.  
I realize this is a great deal to ask of someone as important as  
you are, but I remind you that Ranma is family and will sometime  
in the future be the mother of the child that will carry on your  
family style as well as mine. In her lies the hopes of both our clans.  
Protect that legacy. Keep her alive and healthy.*  
Katsuhito shook his head in dismay. Some things just never  
seemed to change. Genma was still able to shovel it with the best of  
them. One fact, however did distress him. Even with knowing the  
man as he did, Genma had still managed to get through his guard  
and touch a tender spot.  
Katsuhito had outlived the many children he had fathered.  
While he still had their descendants such as Tenchi and Ranma  
around, the loss of each one had hurt him deeply. Ranma, with her  
resemblance to Xian Pu, had opened old wounds. The thought of  
her going off to face the Musk, to try and attain something that  
might not even exist filled his heart with sorrow. He had learned the  
hard way that his children had to grow up and make their own  
decisions, but that did not make it any easier.  
He was more tempted then he cared to admit to keep Ranma  
here until she grew reconciled with her new body. It would be easy  
enough. He could simply tell her that she would not be ready to  
leave until she performed some obscure feat to prove her skill. It  
would be child's play for him to come up with something that  
looked simple, but was in reality incredibly difficult. Hmm, maybe  
that trick he'd played on little Po, 'snatch the pebble from my hand  
and you will be ready to become a great warrior.' The last he'd  
heard of the youngster, he'd entered a monastery.  
Katsuhito shook his head in regret. No. It would not do. Just  
as it would not do for him to accompany Ranma to the Musk  
empire.  
While in this day and age he was unlikely to become a god, as  
his Aunt Amaterasu had become a goddess, he could still do  
irreparable harm to human development if he interfered too much.  
His just living on this planet was risk enough. Taking part in  
Ranma's adventure could have consequences up to and including a  
war between China and Japan. Lord knows he had seen wars start  
over smaller, and sillier, things.  
No, difficult as it was, he would have to let Ranma find her  
own destiny. For his part, he would have to be content with training  
her as best he was able. Turning slightly in his chair, he called out,  
"Ranma." When the redhead looked his way he flicked his wrist and  
sent the letter spinning across the room to where she was seated.  
Ranma caught the document between two fingers and looked  
at it curiously. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw it was from her  
father. For the next several minutes she read, pausing every now  
and then to deflect a new move by Ryouko or to snort a derisive  
comment about her father.  
Ranma, with one last expression of disdain, laid the letter  
down and addressed Katsuhito. "The old fart never changes. You  
watch. He'll be crawling back here with an empty belly any day  
now." Ranma then directed a challenging look at Katsuhito. "So,  
you going to do like the old man asked? Keep me all safe and  
secure so I can be a baby factory?" Beside Ranma, Tenchi blushed.  
Katsuhito returned Ranma's look with one of mildness. "I  
promised to train you," he said, and then just looked at Ranma  
expectantly, as if that statement covered everything.  
Ranma looked at him skeptically. "So, you ain't going to string  
me along, telling me I'm not good enough yet?"  
Nearly a millennium of training enabled Katsuhito to keep a  
perfectly straight face as he said, "Of course not, when you think  
you're ready, you may go."  
The skepticism did not fade from Ranma's face. "Oh, and  
what if you don't think I'm ready? You're just going to wave bye I  
suppose?"  
Katsuhito rubbed his chin, as if puzzling out this conundrum.  
"That is a hard question. I do have a certain obligation as your  
master to make sure you don't do anything too stupid."  
"Stupid?!" Ranma growled, but before she could say anything  
else, Katsuhito continued in his matter of fact voice.  
"I suppose, in that case, I'll just have to break your leg."  
The rest of the people in the room joined Ranma in a facefault.  
Ranma was the first to regain her feet. She looked at Katsuhito  
with anger in her eyes, which slowly faded, till she was smirking at  
him. "All right. I guess if I let an old fart like you break my leg, I  
ain't ready."  
"That's right." Katsuhito nodded in agreement. "A frail old  
man like me should be no match for a healthy young girl like you."  
He gave a mock cough into his hand and thumped his chest. "As a  
matter of fact, lately the chill night air has been giving me some  
problems." He leered at Ranma in a very close mimicry of  
Nobuyuki's lecherous look. "I don't suppose you'd like to start  
sleeping up at the temple? An old priest needs a nice young shrine  
maiden to keep him warm at night and to rub mustard on his chest.  
I'd be happy to give you extra training as payment."  
"Grandfather!" Ayeka protested, blushing red. She reached out  
and covered Sasami's ears with her hand.  
Ryouko chortled at Ayeka's reaction, she'd been enjoying the  
byplay, especially as Ranma's distraction had let her finally get her  
hand close enough to run her fingers through Tenchi's hair.  
Annoyed, Sasami pulled herself free. Giving Ayeka an  
annoyed look, she turned to Katsuhito and asked, "Can I be a Shrine  
Maiden, too? I promise I'll look after you very well."  
This time, only Sasami remained standing as everyone else in  
the room collapsed. Even Katsuhito was not immune. Ayeka  
bounced back to her feet, her face so red it glowed. She grabbed  
Sasami by the hand. "Is that the time? Oh my goodness! You should  
have been in bed ages ago, Sasami! You've had a long hard day!  
Come along, no arguments, a young girl needs her rest!"  
"But I want to be a shrine maiden," floated back to the  
remaining people as Sasami and Ayeka disappeared up the stairs.  
Ranma continued looking in the direction they had gone for  
some time before turning back to Katsuhito. "Too bad, old man.  
Looks like you miss out. Pity. Would have been a good match.  
She's just a kid, and you're in your second childhood."  
Behind Ranma, Ryouko had taken advantage of all the face-  
faulting to somehow end up in Tenchi's lap, much to his apparent  
discomfort.  
Katsuhito seemed to be giving Ranma's comments serious  
thought, but after a moment, he shook his head. "Sasami is kind and  
makes a good meal, but she's too skinny. When you get to my age,  
you want something soft and cushy to lay your head on. A nice  
plump girl like you is just the ticket."  
"Plump? Plump!?" Ranma said in outrage. "What do you take  
me for? Ryouko?" Behind Ranma, Ryouko's head whipped around  
in indignation. From where she sat, she couldn't see the sly grin on  
Ranma's face or the wink the redhead directed toward Katsuhito. "I  
don't lay around on my butt all day like her, eating all the food in  
the house. If you want a girl who's plump, you ought to take her  
on."  
"Hey!" Ryouko protested.  
She was ignored as Katsuhito nodded his head thoughtfully  
and said, "That is true. I have noticed she's been getting a bit broad  
across the beam."  
"HEY!!" This time Ryouko's protest was much more  
pronounced. She was half-way across the room to Ranma and  
Katsuhito when she belatedly remembered her promise to Tenchi  
regarding fighting in the house. She hovered in the air fuming.  
Ryouko's feelings were not improved when Ranma turned to  
her and said, "Wow, I'm impressed!" She directed her next words to  
Tenchi, who was watching the proceedings with more than a hint of  
trepidation. "Ain't you impressed, Tenchi? It's really something  
how she can still fly with all that weight holding her down."  
Ryouko turned stricken eyes toward Tenchi. "Tenchi, you  
don't think I'm fat, do you?" she asked in a pleading voice. This  
time it was Ranma who failed to detect the sly look on Ryouko's  
face. "Ranma's bottom is much bigger than mine, isn't it?"  
"HEY!?" It was Ranma's turn to protest this time. "I don't got  
no fat ass." Ranma strode across the room and positioned herself  
beside Ryouko, only a foot or so away from Tenchi's seated  
position on the couch. She turned her back to him and bent over  
slightly. "Here. Look. Isn't my bottom in better shape then fatso  
here?"  
Ryouko duplicated Ranma's move, and also shoved her  
derriere in Tenchi's face. "No. Tell her Tenchi. I've got the best  
bottom."  
Tenchi was not sure which was going to kill him the sight  
before him, or the consequences of any answer he might make. His  
life was saved by a surprising source. "Uncle Genma," he blurted  
out.  
Ranma and Ryouko looked over their shoulders at him.  
"Huh?" they both inquired intelligently.  
Wordlessly, Tenchi pointed at the TV screen, causing all  
present to look that way. A general murmur of recognition ran  
around the room as everyone recognized the well-padded form of  
Genma's cursed body legging it across some sort of sports field.  
"What the hell!?" Ranma blurted out. She looked around the  
room. "Who has the remote? Someone turn it up." Nobuyuki held  
up the object in question and soon the TV set, which had been set  
on low volume, was blaring forth the story on the screen.  
  
" . . .anda has been avoiding capture for over an hour now, but  
it looks like his luck has run out. The combined forces of the local  
police and the Zoo, as well as various volunteers, have managed to  
trap him inside the grounds of the local high school. You can clearly  
see the students observing this strange activity from the windows of  
their classes. I doubt the residents of Furinken have ever seen  
anything this bizarre.  
Unless I miss my guess, we will soon be seeing an end to this  
chase. With all the gates blocked and a high wall surrounding the  
grounds it's only a matter of time . . . Did you see that!? The panda  
climbed over one of the walls. Well, that was unexpected, to say the  
least. Looks like the speculation that the Panda is an escapee from  
some circus might be the case after all. He certainly is nimble for  
such a big, fat, fellow."  
  
"Not bad," Ryouko commented as she looked at the screen  
avidly. Her former profession had left her somewhat of a  
connoisseur in regards to fleeing the authorities. "He's got them  
rooked good."  
"Yeah, if there is one thing the old man is good at, it's running  
away," Ranma said sardonically, but underneath the derision in her  
voice, there was something else, and it did not escape Katsuhito's  
attention that she was watching the screen just as avidly as Ryouko.  
Tenchi looked at the two girls, puzzlement clear on his face. "I  
don't understand. He barely made it over that wall." He asked  
Ranma, "Don't you feel at all worried?"  
"Huh? Nah. The old man's running a scam. Don't you see? He  
could hop over a wall like that in his sleep. He's got them thinking  
he's a lot less quick than he is. You watch. He'll give them the slip,  
find some hot water, and the legend of the wandering Panda will go  
up a notch."  
Ryouko nodded in confirmation of this. "Broken wing, oldest  
trick in the book. Let them think you're easy prey and they'll be so  
busy chasing you, they won't notice your partner sneaking around  
behind . . ." Ryouko trailed off as she suddenly noticed everyone  
staring at her. "Ah, ha, ha," she half laughed, half coughed, then  
suddenly pointed at the screen. "See, what did I say about  
overconfidence?"  
Eyes shifted from her back to the TV, and she heaved a sigh of  
relief. She was having enough trouble with Tenchi without rubbing  
his face in her larcenous past.  
Ranma gave a guffaw, no longer even trying to maintain a look  
of disdain. In the foreground two zoo keepers were tangled up in a  
cargo net that they had apparently tried to snag Genma with.  
Meanwhile, in the background, Genma was free and clear and, true  
to Ranma's prediction, heading toward a ramen shop, a very likely  
source of hot water. By all indications, it looked like Genma was  
about to once again get away scot free.  
Ranma's chuckles suddenly choked off. She gave a gasp. A  
figure in dark clothes and glasses had just stepped into the camera's  
view. In his hands was a heavy rifle. Even Ryouko reacted as he  
raised the gun and pointed it at the rapidly retreating panda. Her  
reason for objecting, was along the lines of not wanting to see an  
end to some interesting entertainment. Ranma's reaction was a bit  
stronger.  
"No, you bastards! Who the hell shoots pandas? Are you  
crazy?" She grabbed the side of the TV and gave it a shake, as if  
that would distract the man with the gun. "Stop it! Stop it!" she  
screamed at the TV. Katsuhito was suddenly there, folding her into  
his arms and trying to force her eyes away from the screen. Ranma  
would not let him. She could not win free of his arms, but neither  
could he force her eyes away from the screen.  
The man with the gun squeezed the trigger, and he rocked back  
slightly as his weapon discharged. Many yards away, Genma  
suddenly arched his back and went up on the tips of his hind paws.  
He stumbled forward a few steps, his front paws reaching around  
behind him in a vain effort to reach the injury, and then fell  
forward, raising a visible cloud of dust.  
"NO!!!!" Ranma cried out in despair, and finally giving in to  
Katsuhito's urging she turned her head and buried her face against  
his chest. She cried out, "You stupid old man!" then her voice was  
muffled by Katsuhito's robe.  
The three men continued to stare at the TV, the picture  
bouncing as the cameraman ran toward the downed panda. A start  
went thorough Katsuhito, and a gasp of relief rose from Tenchi and  
Nobuyuki.  
The unexpected reactions caused Ranma to lift her tear-stained  
face away from Katsuhito's chest and look once more toward the  
screen. Katsuhito made no effort to stop her this time. Ranma stared  
for a moment, and then a choking sound rose up from deep in her  
chest. "Huh, ha, Ha, BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!!"  
Tenchi and the others joined her in relieved laughter. On the  
screen the dark-clad man reached forward and pulled the large  
tranquilizer dart from Genma's backside.  
  
Epilogue:  
  
Ryouko and Ranma had moved to the floor and were sitting  
close to the TV, a bucket of popcorn between them. In between  
mouthfuls, they exchanged slightly ribald suggestions as to  
Genma's eventual fate.  
On the screen, the man with the tranquilizer gun was being  
interviewed by a _ very _ attractive lady anchorwoman, while  
numerous disgruntled members of the print media took what  
pictures they could.  
A commotion in the front lines of the cameramen announced  
the arrival of a brown-haired school girl. She had a small camera in  
one hand and was using both elbows to clear herself a space among  
the professionals.  
"Nice work there," Ranma commented.  
"Not bad, but if she wanted to be really effective, she should  
be aiming a bit lower," Ryouko said. Behind her, Tenchi and  
Nobuyuki winced slightly and crossed their legs.  
"Oops, there she goes. Too bad, she was sort of cute," Ranma  
said, as the girl was dragged away by the pair of men Genma had  
tangled in the cargo net. They were more then slightly disgruntled,  
believing rather strongly that it should have been them being  
interviewed by the babe. Instead they were stuck doing crowd  
control. The girl kept clicking her camera till she was out of sight.  
Unfortunately, she'd picked a bad location, and the only shots it  
looked like she'd managed to get were of the newscaster.  
"Oh, is that the sort you like?" Ryouko chortled, giving Ranma  
a nudge in the ribs.  
"Well. I do sort of like a girl who ain't afraid to go for what  
she wants," Ranma replied with a distracted air, as she watched her  
Pop being loaded into a cargo truck. A second later, she realized  
what she'd said and started to backtrack, "that is . . .I mean . . ." It  
was too little, too late.  
"Oh really. You like aggressive girls?" Ryouko asked, in a  
voice that had more then a hint of a growl to it. Ranma leaned over  
backward in fear as Ryouko suddenly loomed over her. Then, with a  
yelp of terror, she scooted out from under the descending Ryouko  
and made tracks for the great outdoors.  
Nobuyuki looked at Tenchi, tears in his eyes. "Oh Tenchi!  
You're so lucky!" he cried out, before dragging Tenchi into a rib-  
cracking hug.  
  
  
  
And that wraps up another chapter. I'm sorry I missed getting  
to Mihoshi as promised this chapter. But it's been so long since  
wrote that I needed to do a fun stand alone chapter just to get back  
into it.  
Next chapter we rejoin Nodoka and the girls and several groups who  
are also heading in the same direction, Nerima, figures eh?  
  
After that, we will rejoin Tenchi and Ranma, and finally, Mihoshi.  
  
I'd like to thank all the fine people who went about and  
beyond in pre-reading for me, still hanging in there even after  
months with no new chapter.  
  
I'd also like to thank the people who took the time to write me  
that they enjoyed the story, and when the heck was the next chapter  
coming out. Believe me, there is a very good chance you would not  
be looking at this chapter now if not for them.  
  
One final note. I skipped the Shopping trip because I wanted to  
get this story out, and I thought I could for the most part skip it. If  
you are so inclined, give me a post, and if no one has already taken  
the task up, I'll be happy to let you write a side story covering that  
episode.  
  
T.H. Tiger.  
schell@interlog.com  
  



	7. Default Chapter Title

Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!? Chapter nine.  
China Girls, part two  
Journeys  
  
A fan fiction based on the works of Rumiko Takahashi,  
creator of Ranma 1/2, and, Masaki Kajishima, who I've been  
told is the creator of Tenchi. Hitoshi Okuda, is the artist and  
creator of the Tenchi Manga.  
The characters from M.I.B. are the creation and property of  
Malibu comics.  
I have no rights to these characters. Which should come as no  
surprise to anyone.  
  
Perfume is a creation of Wade Tritschler, used with his  
permission. For more stories featuring her, and other  
interesting characters check out Wade's altered destinies page,  
she shows up in many of the stories there. You can find it at.  
http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/attenborough/249/index.htm  
  
What's going on?  
This is an alternative universe story.  
Ranma was trapped as a girl from her first dip in the  
Nanniichuan.  
  
Why? Read the earlier chapters of Tenchi and Ranma,  
Together Forever!?. See below for some highlights.  
  
Nodoka Saotome, along with Akane Tendo and Ukyou Kuonji  
have visited Jusenkyo, with about the results you would expect.  
They are now on their way home, each of them trying to come to  
grips with the changes the trip has caused to their individual worlds.  
  
Big thanks to all the people who contributed C+C to this, their  
help has been greatly appreciated. It is very unlikely the story would  
be anywhere near as good as it is without their efforts.  
  
If you have not read my TARTF side story featuring Ryouga in  
Space, I recommend you do so before reading this.  
  
You can find all of TARTF at,  
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/  
Be sure to check out the other fine stories at the site.  
  
T.H. Tiger  
schell@interlog.com  
  
The Jusenkyo springs, an ancient training ground, renowned in  
legend and story, had seen better days. The pristine valley was a  
mass of churned up dirt, displaced boulders, and shattered bamboo.  
Several springs had even been covered over, while many others  
were churned up and murky. All in all it looked more like a toxic  
waste dump than a mountain valley. Of course, even with all the  
destruction, a toxic dump would still be a much safer place for the  
casual traveler to visit.  
  
Your behavior has been disgraceful Plum. I leave you in  
charge for two weeks and I come back to find the valley very nearly  
destroyed.  
It was one full day after the three, now four, women and the  
peculiar pig had left the valley, and Plum's father was home.  
The Jusenkyo guide was indulging in a common parental  
habit. The one where, having discovered your precious, darling,  
loved one is not lying shattered in the ditch along with the car, you  
proceed to express yourself in terms somewhat less then  
affectionate.  
To say he was displeased to find Mint, the person who had  
been sent to offer help, locked up in the hut like a common criminal  
was an understatement. His feeling concerning the condition of the  
valley went way beyond displeased.  
The current lecture had been going on for over an hour, and  
Plum's father was starting to repeat himself. He seemed to realize  
this as well. He ground to a halt and stared in displeasure at her.  
Finally, giving a nod, as if coming to a conclusion, he walked over  
to a corner of the hut and lifted up a trap door.  
  
Plum felt her heart sink as he turned and directed a  
commanding look at her. I think it is time you got serious about  
your studies. You will review every scroll in the archive.  
  
Plum's eyes widened in shock. Every scroll! That will take  
months! Maybe years! she protested.  
Plum had not been completely honest with Nodoka when she  
told the older woman she had studied all the old scrolls. The truth  
was she had pretty much skimmed them, only paying attention to  
those that caught her attention. She blanched at the thought of  
reading account after account of normal travelers falling into such  
mundane springs as the spring of drowned dog or deer. Over the  
centuries a lot had happened at the springs, and despite the magic  
involved, the vast majority of those cursed had led, and continued to  
lead, boring lives.  
  
Her father merely glowered at her and said, Good.. He  
looked Plum up and down and reached behind him to a kettle that  
was simmering over the cookfire. Before you start, I want you to  
clean up and change into something less blatant. I don't want the  
prince or his men to see you like that. He handed her the kettle  
and, without another word, walked outside to talk to his guests.  
Plum was left behind, looking at the open trapdoor as if it was the  
entrance to eternal damnation.  
Giving a sigh, Plum set the kettle down and wiggled out of her  
purloined dress. It had been nice while it lasted, but now it was  
time to go back to the old boring Plum. Upending the kettle, she let  
the hot water flow down over her head. Her body shrank, her curves  
flattened, and a few seconds later, ten-year old Plum slipped into  
her regular clothes and headed for the ladder to the archives.  
  
When the guide got outside he was surprised to find Herb and  
his men indulging in a hurried packing. They were going over all  
the supplies they had left in the valley, as well as what they had  
brought back from the monkey hunt. They were carefully picking  
and choosing some items and discarding others.  
When the guide walked up to the prince, instead of the angry  
scowl he expected, he received a beaming smile. He was not left in  
suspense long as to the cause.  
We have found her! Herb told the guide, his voice gleeful.  
Who my lord?  
The monkey, the monkey! Herb said excitedly.  
The monkey, but--  
Mint spotted her here. She was with the strangers that visited  
while your daughter was here alone. She's alive!  
But. . .  
Herb turned to Lime and Mint who had finished packing and  
had slung the backpacks onto their backs, in Lime's case a truly  
massive one. Let's go. Herb ordered, and pulling on his own  
small backpack he set out at a trot.  
But . . . The guide was left standing in shock, his mouth  
gaping open. He held up a hand and started to call out after the  
prince, but then he let it drop and gave a sigh of resignation. What  
did it matter? One wild monkey chase was no different than the  
other. When Herb finally tracked down the group of girls, he would  
find that the monkey was not there. With any luck, the chase would  
take a very long time. With real luck, by the time the prince found  
them, and learned the truth, he would be tired of the hunt and ready  
to return home.  
  
**************************************************  
  
  
Akane walked along, slightly behind Ukyou and Nodoka, her  
mind lost in thought. So much had happened in such a short time.  
She had seen things that she would have dismissed as fantasy if told  
them. She had seen magic spells transform her companions. Met  
an alien from another planet, for Kami's sake. Despite how  
incredible all that was, it shrank into insignificance when compared  
to the truly major change in her life. The one that was even now  
walking alongside her, matching her stride for stride, every motion a  
duplicate of her own. And why not? She was Akane, every bit as  
much as Akane was Akane.  
Akane turned her head slightly to the left to take a look at the  
dark-haired figure walking beside her and met a pair of brown eyes  
looking at her with the same quizzical expression she knew she had  
on her own face. She jerked her head back to stare down the path  
and knew with a sure certainty that the other girl had done the same  
thing.  
They walked in silence for some time, and then Akane looked  
back over to the right and broached the subject she knew must be on  
both of their minds.  
"This is strange."  
"This is strange."  
Akane looked at the other girl, startled, still not used to hearing  
her words echoed back to her, even before she had truly spoken  
them. She felt a familiar rush of heat, feeling the other girl must be  
mocking her, and fought it down, knowing the self same thought  
must be running through her counterparts mind.  
"Sorry."  
"Sorry."  
"Damn."  
"Damn."  
Akane stopped walking and turned to face the other girl, who,  
of course, was doing the exact same thing in return. It was a strange  
experience, looking at yourself like this. You would have thought it  
would be like looking into a mirror, but it wasn't. The face was  
reversed from the one she was use to seeing in the mirror. A subtle  
thing to be sure, but one that seemed to make a great deal of  
difference. She had been looking into mirrors and ponds all her life.  
The slight disassociation between the face in front of her and the  
one she had been used to seeing for all those years was far more  
jarring then she would have thought. At times, she found herself  
thinking that the other girl really did not look at all like her. Her  
right eye was slightly higher then the left, when she knew her own  
left eye was the one that was the higher. A small freckle on the left  
side of the other girl's nose should have been on the right. The  
more she looked, the less like her the other girl resembled her.  
"We don't . . ."  
"We don't . . ."  
Akane gritted her teeth and, going against every facet of her  
character, surrendered control to the other girl.  
"Sorry, you go first."  
"Sorry, you go first."  
Akane found herself on the verge of screaming. Mindful of  
the pledge she'd made to herself to try for more control, she  
counted to ten slowly. Strangely enough, the sight of the other  
girl's lips moving as she did the same thing did not make her more  
angry, but caused a slight trickle of humor to infiltrate its way into  
her brain. If it wasn't so frustrating, it would be funny as hell, she  
couldn't help but think. She felt a slight tugging as the corner of her  
mouth quirked up. Her smile widened when she saw the other  
Akane smiling back at her.  
Another second and they might have burst out in mutual  
laughter. Before that could happen, however, a tug on her pants leg  
distracted Akane. She looked down to see Agent P, the alien pig,  
sitting beside her. He looked out of breath and thoroughly  
exhausted. He was also coated in a heavy covering of road dust.  
"I take it you two are having a bit of a problem  
communicating?"  
Akane grimaced,  
"You could say that."  
"You could say that."  
Akane looked at herself, and they both sighed simultaneously  
in disgust.  
"I might have a solution." Akane looked at him, an expression  
of interest on her faces.  
"Let the one holding the pig talk first."  
"Nani?"  
"Nani?"  
"It might have escaped your notice, but I'm built a bit closer to  
the ground then the rest of you oversized tree hump . . . huggers. I  
could use a lift."  
Akane looked surprised.  
"Really, you wouldn't find it degrading to be carried like a  
pet?"  
"Really, you wouldn't find it degrading to be carried like a  
pet?"  
"Shit, yes. How horrible. To be carried like a pet. I'd much  
rather have a heart attack trying to keep up with you. I love the  
taste of dirt in the morning, and there's nothing better for a person  
than to throw up every few miles from exhaustion."  
"Well, if your going to be like that . . ."  
"Well, if your going to be like that . . ."  
Akane turned her faces away from the little pig, and they each  
took a step down the road.  
"Hold it, hold it. Look, if you ask silly questions, I'm not  
going to be held responsible for my answers. If I minded being  
carried like a pet, I'd never have asked you to do it. Shit, my people  
were originally bred to be pets. Now would you 'please' give me a  
lift before I fall over and embarrass the hell out of myself?"  
Akane looked at herself, and they both nodded at the same  
time. Turning back, they both bent over to pick up the exhausted  
agent.  
"Hold it, hold it. There's only one of me remember? You," he  
pointed a finger at one of the Akanes, "what do you look like when  
you're in your other form? Do you have a tuft on your tail or not?"  
The Akane in question looked startled for a minute. Then, she  
said, "I do have a tuft." Her face had a funny expression, and her  
hand snaked around her backside as if reflexively reaching for  
something that was not there.  
"Good, then you're Unakane. I'd be ever so grateful if you  
would give me a lift, Una." There was only the tiniest bit of sarcasm  
in the pig's words, but the newly named Unakane decided to ignore  
it. She was beginning to realize that the little pig had a lot in  
common with some of the old ladies in her neighborhood. It was  
just the way they were. They didn't mean anything personal by it.  
A long life had simply left them with little patience. An image of  
the little pig dressed up in a shawl and a long dress crossed her  
mind, and she stifled a giggle as she picked him up, but not enough  
that her counterpart failed to note it.  
"What's so funny?" the girl who now figured she'd be named  
Annakane asked. Surprisingly, she didn't really mind having her  
name arbitrarily changed. For the first time since getting the curse,  
she felt like an individual again. Looking across at her giggling  
'sister', she knew that Unakane felt the same.  
"I was just thinking of old Mrs. Kimichi."  
Annakane looked puzzled for a second, then her eyes widened,  
and she looked at Agent P in Unakane's arms. A giggle escaped her  
lips. "He does, doesn't he?"  
"To a T."  
"Someone care to let me in on the joke?" Agent P asked in a  
querulous tone that caused both girls to break into outright laugher.  
"Never mind,"  
"it's just a,"  
"private joke."  
Unakane suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Anna, who  
was, of course, looking back at her.  
"Hey,"  
"We're not,"  
"talking at the"  
"same time"  
"anymore."  
"Cool"  
"I don't exactly call it an improvement," was Agent P's wry  
comment. "Why don't you try to talk like normal people?"  
"But we're"  
"not normal"  
"people," the two girls said with a laugh. They sobered up a  
bit when Agent P sent them both a scathing look, but they still  
retained silly smiles.  
"Fine, have your fun. When you're ready to have a serious  
conversation, let me know."  
"We're"  
"sorry."  
"I have the pig," Unakane said.  
"So you get to go first," Annakane finished with a grin.  
Unakane thought about what to say. There were so many  
things she wanted to ask the other girl, she swiftly ran over them in  
her mind, trying to think which one to ask first. Slowly, an  
expression of chagrin crossed her face, and she looked across at her  
counterpart, who was grinning back at her broadly. "This is stupid.  
There isn't any point in asking you anything. You're me, or close  
enough it doesn't make any difference."  
"So if we can't talk about us,"  
"why don't we talk about"  
"Ukyou, and Nodoka?"  
"Not to mention our resident alien." Both girls looked down at  
where Agent P was comfortably cradled in Unakane's arms.  
Agent P blinked lazy eyes at them, and said, "Go right ahead.  
I'll take running my mouth over running my legs any day."  
Unakane looked thoughtful. "Well, . . . seeing as how  
Annakane and I know all there is to know about our regular bodies,"  
"why don't you tell us more about our cursed forms?"  
Annakane finished.  
Agent P looked at both girls with an unreadable expression,  
then he shook his head and said simply, "No."  
Both Akanes' looked surprised at this and slipped back into  
their old behavior.  
"Why not?"  
"Why not?"  
They both grimaced together and gave each other dirty looks.  
Unakane shifted Agent P in her arms, drawing attention to who was  
supposed to be taking the lead here. Annakane glowered a little, but  
then lowered her eyes and sighed, before saying, "All right, but I  
get to carry him after our lunch stop." Agent P raised an eyebrow  
when Unakane didn't mimic or complete Annakane's statement. It  
looked like giving them a single focal point in the person of him  
was working out nicely. In more ways than one, he thought as he  
snuggled more comfortably against Unakane's bosom.  
Unakane looked down at him and repeated Anna's and her  
earlier question. "Why won't you tell us about the original Anna  
and Una?"  
"Because they were thugs and bullies, who thought that  
because they were born carnivores, they were superior to all the  
lesser creatures that lived in the galaxy. They are also considered to  
be great heros by a large number of people who should know better.  
I refuse to dignify them by passing on their actions to people who  
have had the good fortune not to have heard about them before. I  
told you both only what you needed to know before. In the future,  
I'll be happy to fill you in on details relating to your particular  
species, but I will not tell you specific details about those two."  
While he imparted this information in a level tone, there was a  
great deal of venom in his voice, and the Akanes realized that there  
was little chance they could change his mind, at least for today  
anyway. She found herself with a sudden burning desire to learn  
about the two girls whose bodies they now possessed. The little  
pig's refusal just made her desire to find out even more intense.  
One piece of information he had mentioned did intrigue her,  
however. "You said they were carnivores? Didn't they eat  
anything but meat?"  
"No, and now that you mention it, I'd recommend you avoid  
eating any plant matter while in your other forms. I'm not sure  
what the effect would be on you, but I do know that Felicity made a  
very bad companion when she ate vegetables."  
"Did she get upset? Or did it just make her sick?"  
"Neither. She rather liked the taste, actually. It was me who  
did the suffering. She didn't have the fauna in her gut to digest it  
properly. I've got a sensitive nose, and spending time in a small  
patrol craft with her after she'd downed a salad was no fun thing."  
Unakane and Annakane looked blank for a second, and then  
the light of understanding crossed their faces, simultaneously, of  
course, along with a slight blush. "Oh, well, in that case I guess  
we'll make a point to avoid anything but meat when we're in our  
cursed forms. What was your partner Felicity like? How did you  
end up with a descendant of Una and Anna if you hated them so  
much?"  
"Felicity was a wonderful person, and I'd like to say I ended  
up with her because I'm a wise and understanding being who only  
judges people by what they are and not who they are.  
"That would be a lie however. The truth is, I'm a sour,  
vindictive old fart. I'd never in a million years have picked her for  
a partner, but fate, and a petty, vindictive pencil pusher, threw us  
together." His eyes took on a distant look as he remembered events  
long gone. The two girls exchanged looks and grinned in  
satisfaction. It looked like they would hear a few tales of outer  
space, even if they weren't about the original wearers of their  
cursed forms.  
  
Agent P's voice came as if from a long distance away.  
"Felicity was a real hick from the sticks. Hadn't seen an alien in her  
whole life before coming to Galaxy police cadet training. Me, I was  
growing back a leg that I'd lost during my last case, so, I was  
convalescing, and acting as a combination teacher/liaison officer.  
"It's a common courtesy to assign someone of my rank a  
senior student to act as a gofer, teaching assistant, and anything else  
that might come up. They get to learn at the feet of an experienced  
officer, and the officer gets to grow a fat ass while they do all the  
running around for him. That's the theory anyway.  
"Felicity was just out of kitten-hood and was as clumsy as they  
come. She managed to make a mess out of the admittance office  
her first day. Disaster area doesn't start to cover it. She had  
somehow gotten the printer going and couldn't shut it off. It  
spewed paper all over the place. She tried to get rid of the excess by  
shoving it down a disposal. Only the disposal had an alarm rigged  
for that very eventuality. People who shove large quantities of  
paper down a disposal chute in a major police station usually have  
something to hide. Felicity didn't even know the alarm existed, let  
alone the code to disable it.  
"So, there she was, shoving paper hand over fist down the  
chute when a security team came bursting in. In full combat gear, I  
might add. Poor Felicity didn't have a clue as to what was going  
on. To make matters worse, the jerk-off in charge didn't bother to  
announce who they were. Felicity jumped to the conclusion they  
were pirates, raiding Galaxy Police headquarters for some nefarious  
purpose.  
"Felicity, I might add, had watched way too many bad movies.  
To make a long, and sorry, story short, by the time everything was  
settled, there was not much left of the office.  
"This disaster got her on the bad side of one of the pencil  
pushers there, and this is where I come into the story. I'd told the  
same duffus off for what I considered his slack attitude a week or so  
earlier. Growing back a new limb always makes me more of a pain  
in the butt than usual, and I was in rare form on that day. The  
upshot was he was pissed off at both of us, so when word came  
down to assign me an assistant, he juggled some files. Instead of  
one of the senior students, who would have known what to expect,  
Felicity was the one sent to my office. The pencil pusher knew  
about my run-in with her aunts. Of course, everyone knew about  
that. He had high hopes that something nasty would come of it."  
Akane gave a short laugh. "I can see where this is going. I bet  
you weren't happy when she showed up."  
  
"Kitten, you don't know the half of it. I told you Felicity was  
a hick, she'd never seen or heard of Brinigins, my people," Agent P  
added as an aside. "So when she walked in and saw me standing on  
top of the desk, tearing up a botched effort at an exam I was trying  
to write for my next class, she thought I was an animal who was  
destroying an important piece of paper.  
  
"After the lecture she'd received for her earlier snafu, she was  
convinced that every piece of paper at GP headquarters was worth  
its weight in ultra-dense energy. She grew out of it eventually, but  
it took some time." The grimace P gave while saying this was a  
pretty good indicator that it had taken her a good long time to grow  
out of that habit.  
"Anyway, she snatched me off the desk, and then heard a noise  
in the hallway. Thinking that the infamous, and notoriously bad  
tempered, Agent P was about to walk in, she stuffed me in a desk  
drawer out of sight. She thought she'd get blamed for my being  
there you see, and for the damage I'd done.  
"This happened all too fast for me to protest, but I rectified  
that soon after. I walked up one side of her and down the other.  
The poor girl didn't stop shaking for a week. I, of course, got to get  
snickered at for the rest of my stay at the cadet training hall. The  
student computer traffic was full of jokes, bad poetry and songs, all  
memorializing the day the famous P was stuffed."  
Both girls had tears rolling down their cheeks. "That must  
have been awful for you," Unakane managed to choke out, while  
Annakane gave a loud snort at the image in her mind.  
"It was not one of my finer moments, I'll give you that," Agent  
P said, while directing a dirty look at the laughing girls. "That  
might have been it for Felicity and I, but it seemed a certain Pasha  
with more gonads then sense had decided to set up a special harem.  
"He sent out crews with very specific instructions to find  
females from more then a dozen different races who were  
compatible with his body type, and who matched his impression of  
what a perfect specimen of each of those races should look like.  
Felicity happened to match the specifications for a girl of her race  
to a T."  
Annakane and Unakane listened raptly as Agent P spun out  
the tale of his and Felicity's first case together.  
  
  
"And so there the Pasha was, naked as the day he was birthed,  
surrounded by eleven of the most beautiful women in the galaxy,  
according to the standards of their individual races of course. Each  
and every one of them as naked as he was and each armed to the  
teeth with some of the most lethal looking hardware ever invented.  
I've never seen a man stand down so fast in my life."  
Agent P had timed his story well. For just as he finished,  
Nodoka called out that it was time to stop for a rest. Both girls were  
beet red, whether from laughter or embarrassment it was hard to  
say. Unakane set P down, and she and her sister stumbled into the  
woods to look for firewood. The way they kept looking at each  
other lent some credence to the embarrassment theory, but the  
smiles and laughter were equally strong evidence of the other  
possibility.  
  
****************************************************  
  
It had not been a good week for Genma Saotome. Having  
reached the wrenching decision that Ranma simply was not going to  
be the boon of his old age he had hoped for, he had set out to make  
other arrangements. A visit to Soun, and a carefully crafted story  
of his poor son's heroic death while he saved ten . . . no, twenty  
children from a burning school bus would gain him a comfortable  
place to stay. He was sure the tender-hearted Soun would be happy  
to put him up till he recovered from the terrible tragedy of his son's  
death.  
Meanwhile, the notes that he had left for the Princess and  
Katsuhito should keep Nodoka from discovering the truth about  
Ranma. He had been very explicit in his explanation of what  
Nodoka would do if she found out Ranma was not a man among  
men. A bit of judicious questioning on their part would confirm  
this. Nodoka had no qualms about her intentions. Asked point  
blank about her deal with Genma, she would readily confess her  
intention to force Ranma to commit sepuku if she felt Ranma was  
not a man among men. That would convince the Masaki household  
to hide Ranma from her. Meanwhile, he would be able to tell her of  
Ranma's tragic demise, being sure to mention that his body was  
never recovered from the ashes of the bus.  
If by some miracle Ranma should manage to regain her male  
body, Genma would be covered. If she did not, well, Nodoka could  
hardly argue that a boy who died saving others was not a man  
among men. In time, she would get over her grief. A new child  
would help with that. She was still a young woman, and Genma  
was as virile as ever. He might yet father the son that would  
support him in his old age. The plan had been flawless. Except for  
the men from the zoo.  
Genma had not paid a great deal of attention to the stories that  
were circulating about his cursed form. He had always escaped the  
would be panda hunters easily. Those years training with the  
master, Genma reflexively made a warding gesture, had not been for  
nothing.  
Unfortunately, that had been before his picture had ended up  
in the papers. Faced with proof that the Phantom Panda actually  
existed, the local zoos had put some real effort into hunting him  
down. He had been barely a block from the Tendos' house when  
they had caught up to him. He'd put up a good fight, but in the end  
had lost. Only because they had cheated, of course.  
Genma idly rubbed his backside, which was still sore from the  
tranquilizer dart that had put him out of action, and looked  
morosely out through the bars of his small cage at the panda  
enclosure of the local zoo. He was currently in quarantine while the  
vets made sure he was healthy and disease free. Unfortunately,  
none of those tests involved hot water.  
Fortunately, the quarantine was almost over. Pandas were a  
big draw, and the mysterious wandering Panda was likely to be an  
even bigger one. They wanted to get him out in front of the public  
as soon as possible. That would mean putting him out in the large  
viewing enclosure. The moat and tall wall might keep a normal  
panda safely caged, but it would be child's play for him to escape.  
Just one more day and he'd be able to make his break for it.  
"Why hello their, good looking."  
Genma snapped his head around with startled, "Growf."  
Standing in the entrance to the quarantine room was a lovely young  
brunette, a large tray of fruits, bamboo shoots, and, Genma's eyes  
widened, baked goods.  
"Oh, feeling hungry are we?" the girl asked rhetorically, as  
Genma shuffled forward to the front of his cage and looked at the  
tray she held below her substantial bosom with longing. To  
Genma's delight, she picked one of the baked goods off of her tray,  
and handed it to him between the bars. Genma eagerly snagged it  
from her and gulped it down in a single bite.  
A man who had just entered the room, his arms laden with  
various medical paraphernalia, said in admiration, "Looks like you  
were right. Those blueberry muffins really do the trick."  
"Yep, only thing we've ever found that lets us get medicine  
down their gullets every time."  
'Medicine,' Genma thought in alarm, even as he felt his limbs  
growing weak and his vision start to blur. Unable to keep his feet,  
he sagged to the floor of his cage. The last image he had before the  
lights went out was the attractive girl pulling on a rubber glove that  
reached all the way to her shoulder, and saying, "Well, lets see if  
this big boy is as healthy inside as he is out."  
  
***************************************************  
  
Ukyou looked up from where she was preparing dinner as  
Nodoka came up to her. "Ukyou, could I talk to you for a minute?"  
"Of course, Saotome-san. Just let me finish getting these fish  
ready and I'll be right with you." In a few minutes Ukyou had a half  
dozen plump fish staked out around the campfire. She would have  
preferred okinomiyaki, but had been outvoted. The others had  
prevailed on her to prepare the fish without turning them into  
toppings.  
Ukyou wiped her hands clean, and looked up at Nodoka  
expectantly. Nodoka looked over to where the two Akanes were  
listening raptly to another one of Agent P's stories. No doubt  
featuring his former partner Felicity, the great, great grandniece of  
the Puma sisters, whose bodies Akane now possessed thanks to the  
Jusenkyo curse. He seemed to have an inexhaustible store of  
stories, and both Akanes could not get enough of them.  
"Could we go off a little ways?" Nodoka asked. "This is  
rather personal."  
No longer distracted by her dinner preparation, Ukyou noticed  
for the first time how grave Nodoka's face was. She felt a twinge of  
dread. Nodoka had not brought up the topic of sepuku since just  
after acquiring her curse. Had she decided to go through with it  
despite Xian Pu's presence, Ukyou wondered? With a feeling of  
trepidation she followed Nodoka off into the woods to a small  
clearing. Nodoka sat on a fallen tree and motioned for Ukyou to  
take a seat on a nearby rock.  
Once Ukyou was settled, Nodoka frowned, and after gathering  
her thoughts, began to speak. "Kuonji-san, I have been giving a  
great deal of thought to the arrangement my deceased husband  
made with your father."  
"Deceased!?" Ukyou burst out. "How? I mean, did you find  
someone who told you this!?"  
"My husband and son are dead," Nodoka said flatly. "I no  
longer have any need of proof. I should have accepted that earlier,  
instead of heading off on a fruitless journey that ended in disaster.  
What is left to me is to deal with the legacy my husband left me.  
You."  
"Me? I don't understand!" Ukyou blurted out, more from  
reflex then from genuine curiosity. Nodoka's sudden assertion that  
Genma and Ranma were dead had left her off balance.  
"My husband made an arrangement to bring you into our  
family, he even accepted your dowry."  
"You don't have to tell me that! I've been training for ten  
years to take that dowry out of his and Ranma's hide!" Ukyou said  
fiercely. Then she remembered to whom she was talking and  
blushed very slightly, though her expression remained firm. "I'm  
sorry, Saotome-san. I didn't mean to distress you, but I've lived  
with it for too long. Sometimes I forget myself."  
"You have reason. At first I thought you were mistaken, had  
misunderstood, or --"  
"Was lying through my teeth."  
"I never--"  
"It's all right. I don't blame you. I wouldn't have believed me  
either. I don't care. I know it's true, and that's all that matters."  
"I, too, believe it's true, and that is my problem. I have an  
obligation to you, above and even beyond the one I owe for  
allowing you to become cursed."  
"No! I came on this journey of my own free will. As for the  
other matter, Saotome Genma and Saotome Ranma have an  
obligation to me. You are just another of Genma's victims. I do  
not hold you liable for their actions."  
"But I do! And as you said, that is all that matters. Genma is  
my husband, his honor is my honor. My clumsiness has rendered  
me unable to make recompense as I should for my own actions in  
regards to you. That leaves me with only one option. I must try to  
make what amends I can for my husbands actions. It is a poor  
substitute. Indeed, you may find it a distasteful one, but it is all I  
have to offer at this time. I ask that you listen."  
The seriousness with which Nodoka said this caused Ukyou to  
answer in more formal tones then was her usual manner of  
speaking. "Of course, Saotome-san. In the last few days I have  
come to respect you. You have shown yourself to be a person of  
honor and integrity. I will gladly listen to your offer."  
"I wish to adopt you."  
"Nani!?" Ukyou reared up, her face startled. This was the last  
thing she had expected to hear.  
"I wish to offer you the Saotome name that Genma promised  
you. You would become the heir to the Saotome clan, little enough  
though that may be. As I said, it is small recompense, but with the  
situation with Xian Pu being what it is, I am restrained from  
offering more."  
"This . . ." Ukyou paused and shook her head. "I don't know  
what to say. I never . . . Can I have some time to think about this?"  
She said, trying to buy herself some time to think.  
"Of course. Take all the time you wish. I assure you that I am  
deadly serious about this. I offer this out of obligation, but make no  
mistake about it. It would give me great pleasure to call you  
daughter. You have shown yourself to be a person of honor and  
bravery. Indeed, if my son had been half the . . ."  
"Man?" Ukyou finished.  
"I didn't mean--"  
"I'm not offended. I've spent more time living as a boy, than I  
ever did as a girl." A wry look crossed Ukyou's face. "You offered  
to make me your daughter, but I've never been what you could call  
ladylike, and now with my curse . . ." Ukyou paused, a calculating  
look on her face. "I'll make you a counter-offer Saotome-san. I  
vowed to give up my womanhood until I brought justice to your  
husband and son. If they are dead as you say, I can't do that now.  
Your honor demands that you offer me a place in your family. My  
honor means I can only accept one position. Would you take me as  
your son? Instead of your daughter?"  
"I don't . . . Surely not? You can't mean that, Kuonji-san?"  
"With every fiber of my being!" Ukyou said, her voice rock  
steady. "You offered me time to think on your offer. I offer you  
time to think on mine."  
"I see. Well then, if that is the way you feel." Nodoka looked  
troubled, but then a speculative look grew on her face. She looked  
at Ukyou closely, but her mind's eye seemed focused elsewhere, as  
if she was recalling something. Finally, she gave a nod, and her  
face grew firm. She sat up straight and stared Ukyou straight in the  
eye. "I would be honored to take you as my son."  
Ukyou looked at her flabbergasted. The last thing she had  
expected was for Nodoka to take her up on her offer. She mentally  
kicked herself. She knew how serious Nodoka took obligations.  
She should have known that she would accept Ukyou as a son if that  
meant she could in some small way expunge part of the debt she felt  
she owed Ukyou. That left Ukyou in a very uncomfortable position.  
If she allowed herself to be adopted as a son, that put an obligation  
on her to be that son, not just to play make believe.  
Ukyou grimaced. What did it matter? She was already  
trapped in the role of a boy by her vow regarding Genma and  
Ranma. If they were truly dead, she would never regain her  
womanhood. Add the curse on top of that, and she might as well  
give in to the inevitable.  
As if reading her mind, Nodoka smiled gently at Ukyou.  
"Take your time. There is no need to come to a decision right  
away." When Ukyou would have spoken, she held up a hand. "No.  
Don't say anything. We should get back to camp. Your fish will be  
done."  
Nodoka rose to her feet, and as she did so, her hand lifted to  
caress the pale wood tiara that was laced through her hair. "Oh, I  
almost forgot. Agent P tells me that the device he gave me should  
have done its job by now. After dinner I mean to call up Xian Pu,  
and see if Agent P's hopes are justified. If this works as he claims,  
then Xian Pu will be taking my place for the next day or so. You  
may think on my offer, and your own, while she is here. Whatever  
you decide, to be, my son or my daughter, will be acceptable to  
me."  
There was little Ukyou could say to that, so with her mind  
whirling from this new development, she followed Nodoka back to  
camp.  
  
  
"Are you ready for this, Saotome-san?" Agent P asked,  
looking up at Nodoka, who had a worried expression on her face.  
Nodoka shook off her uncertainty and straightened her  
shoulders. "I'm ready, P-san. It is far better I do this here, where  
we can control events than to have it happen unexpectedly."  
"You got that right. But you don't have anything to worry  
about, Saotome-san. At worst, nothing will happen. I don't think  
that will be the case, however. It should at the very least let you and  
Xian Pu remain aware of what is going on instead of experiencing a  
total black out every time you change. At the very best, it will  
allow you to communicate with each other. I'm not sure about that  
part, however. It was never intended for that sort of use."  
Nodoka stopped herself from asking just what the tiara was  
used for normally. She had wasted enough time already. This had  
to be done, and if it must be, best be done soonest. She walked out  
into the middle of the small clearing near their campsite, a canteen  
of water in her hand sloshing as she moved. She reached her  
destination and sat down on the ground, her back against a small  
tree. She knew from her own experience how disorienting it could  
be to suddenly find yourself in a radically different situation than  
the last one you remember. She wanted to make the transition as  
easy as she could for Xian Pu. Draping a towel around her neck,  
she opened the top of the canteen she was carrying and doused her  
head with cold water.  
  
Xian Pu woke. She felt her heart lurch. Was it time? Or was  
this an unexpected change? A quick look around herself made it  
clear which it was. She was sitting in the middle of a clearing and  
in front of her were lined up her alternate's companions. The  
strange pig/spirit/wizard, the brown-haired girl/boy, and the last  
two. The girl, or girls, who bore the cat-demon curse. She found  
herself staring at them, wondering what sort of person they were.  
The cat-demons had been fierce fighters; only luck had let her  
prevail in their battle. Did these girls posses that skill, or did they  
just have the bodies? They had shown little finesse during their  
fight back in Jusenkyo. Maybe she could test herself against them,  
see if she yet retained her skill or whether she would have to spend  
long years regaining it.  
"Are you all right, Xian Pu? Is anything the matter?"  
Xian Pu broke herself out of her reverie. She moved her gaze  
from the two black-haired girls. Akane? And looked at the brown-  
haired girl. Ukyou? She had been given their names so quickly, the  
only one she remembered for sure was the wizard pig. P was a  
rather simple name to remember, after all.  
"I am fine . . .Ukyou?"  
"That's right. I'm Ukyou. Those two have taken the names  
Annakane, and Unakane." The two girls nodded their  
acknowledgment at her. "And this is Agent P."  
"I remembered the wizard. I give you greeting, wise  
one."  
"There are many who would dispute that title, but I thank you,  
and give you greetings as well, warrior. Are you ready?"  
"This is it then? The talisman is ready to function? I feel no  
different."  
"I asked Saotome-san to wait and give you a chance to get  
ready. She may not be able to make herself known to you. In that  
case, we will have to change you back to see if she remained aware.  
If she did, then you will spend a day charging the . . .talisman with  
your spirit. Then you too will be aware of what is going on."  
"That will be good. It is not a pleasant thing. . . to be always  
waking in a strange situation." Xian Pu drew herself up straight and  
took a deep breath. When she had let it out, she said in controlled  
voice, "Let us begin. You may speak if you are able Saotome-san."  
  
*CAN YOU HEAR ME, XIAN PU!*  
  
"Ahhhhh!!!" Xian Pu cried out, as she jerked upright, her eyes  
wide in shock. Her hands flew to her temples and clutched them  
tightly.  
The watchers broke into shouts of "What is it?" "Are you all  
right?" "I thought you said nothing could go wrong?" "I thought  
'you' said nothing could go wrong?"  
Xian Pu held up a hand to quiet them. When they settled  
down, she said, "I am fine. Saotome-san, I can hear you, but  
please, could you speak a little softer? I thought my ears were  
going to pop off my head."  
*I'm dreadfully sorry dear. This is so new to me.* The  
chagrined voice in Xian Pu's head said. *I wasn't sure how to go  
about doing it. It is so strange here. Is this better?*  
"That is much better. I give you greetings, Saotome-san."  
*And I give you greetings, Xian Pu, but please, call me  
Nodoka. It seems strange to be so formal under these  
circumstances.*  
"Very well, Nodoka. Can you see what is going on?"  
Nodoka's voice hesitated, and then she said. *Not clearly. I  
can't seem to see you.*  
"Nodoka say's she can not see me," Xian Pu told the wizard.  
"That is to be expected," Agent P said. "She is seeing through  
your eyes. She can only see what you can see."  
*Oh, I feel foolish. That should have been obvious.*  
"You heard him then. It would seem you can use my ears as  
well."  
*Yes, but it is strange. I'm not seeing, or hearing, like I  
thought I would.*  
"How so?"  
*I thought I would see and hear normally, but would not be  
able to do anything.*  
Xian Pu was taken aback by this. She had not really given any  
thought as to how this would work. The idea of being aware but  
helpless to do anything, she shuddered at the idea. Then she said to  
Nodoka, "I had not considered this. I do not think I would have  
liked that. But you say it does not work that way. How does it  
work?"  
*Well, it's the strangest thing. I seem to be home in my own  
living room, and I am seeing what you see on my televison, and  
what you hear seems to be coming from the speakers.*  
"Television?" Xian Pu said, her voice puzzled. "What is a  
television? And who are these speakers? Are there others in there  
with you as well?"  
*Oh dear. This could take some time.*  
  
"Well, looks like it worked," Agent P said with some  
satisfaction as he watched Xian Pu apparently talking to herself.  
"We might as well leave those two to get acquainted. Why don't  
we go back to the camp and wait for them?"  
He trotted off ahead of the others. Both Akanes started after  
the small pig, only to be brought up short by Ukyou, who asked,  
"So, Akane . . . er Annakane and Unakane, what's the deal with you  
and the pig? How come he's still among the living? I've seen him  
leer at you, make suggestive comments, and outright order you  
around. How come you haven't used a large rock on him yet?"  
"That's"  
"Silly"  
"Ukyou!"  
"You make"  
"it sound like"  
"we're some sort of"  
"Monsters"  
"We--"  
"Stop that!" Ukyou broke in. She had started to get dizzy from  
moving her head to look at first one girl, and then the other.  
"The two Akanes looked at each other, and giggled. Then they  
said.  
"We're sorry. Is this better?"  
"We're sorry. Is this better?"  
In perfect harmony, of course.  
"Oh great, now we're back to stereo."  
"Oh great, now we're back to stereo." They said with a mutual  
laugh, then they sobered, and said,  
"Seriously"  
"Ukyou . . ."  
The two Akanes stopped, and Annakane looked at  
Unakane, who gave her a nod, and firmly shut her mouth. "Don't  
you find him incredible? He's an alien! He's from outer space!  
He's had adventures we can only dream of. And the best part of it  
is, we're aliens now too."  
Unakane could not resist and broke in at this point. "He said  
we were nothing like the original Puma sisters. We remind him of  
his old partner. She was a great hero. He says with a little training,  
he's sure we could be great intelligence operatives."  
"Yes!" Annakane broke in. "He's says with our former bodies  
reputation, we would be perfect undercover operatives." Both girls  
turned their faces up to stare at the stars, a dreamy look in their  
eyes.  
"To go out"  
"there, and"  
"to meet people"  
"from other"  
"planets."  
Ukyou shook her head in disgust and walked off, muttering as  
she went. "Star struck. Literally. The pair of them."  
  
Agent P reached the camp site and flopped down beside the  
campfire. He heaved a sigh of relief. Despite his reassuring words,  
he had not been completely sure the device would work. After all,  
he had disabled more then half of it's circuitry. But it would not do  
to put a fully functioning _ Better Than Life _ game on an  
unsuspecting person's head. For one thing, it carried the death  
penalty on several worlds and long incarceration on many others.  
Not that he disagreed with those laws. He'd put his share of  
bootleggers out of business. That was how he had come to have one  
of the insidious devices in the first place.  
  
Developed over five hundred years ago, the Better Than Life  
game worked by completely downloading a copy of the players  
mind. It would then put the person into a deep coma, leaving the  
downloaded mind conscious. Using feedback from that  
consciousness, in conjunction with interactive circuitry, it then built  
a fantasy world where every dream and desire of the player could,  
and would, come true. In short, it created a world that was literally  
better than real life. When the player was ready to quit the game, it  
would stop the electronic interference that kept them in a coma, and  
upload the mind in the game back into the player, leaving them with  
the sensation that they had really been in that world.  
The game's manufacturers had claimed that the player could  
exit whenever they wished, and that was true. The problem was that  
over sixty percent of first time users did not wish to, and if not  
found and disconnected, their real bodies often died of neglect. The  
death toll in the first month of release had been staggering.  
However, despite this, because it was in effect the ultimate  
drug, to this day there was a market for the things.  
  
Agent P had gutted the one he had given Nodoka and Xian Pu.  
It was no longer able to generate the mental white noise needed to  
disconnect the player's mind. P had counted on the curse supplying  
the triggering shutdown when it was activated, and apparently it had  
worked. As soon as Nodoka's real mind had stopped functioning,  
the machine had woken her downloaded mind. When Xian Pu  
changed and Nodoka 'woke', the device should seamlessly  
reconnect to her mind, and the memories of her downloaded mind  
would seem as real as if they had happened to her real one.  
He had disabled the vast majority of the game's interactive  
circuits. It would be able to manifest settings that were already in  
the two girls' minds, but it could no longer create fictional worlds  
based on their dreams, or generate other people to share the world  
with them. The actual memories of the places people lived and grew  
up were much more solid and real then the phantasms that make up  
their dreams.  
Actually, things had worked out much better than he had  
hoped. It had always been a long shot that they would be able to  
talk to each other. He had hoped that the curse would fool the  
device into linking the downloaded mind with the mind of the girl  
who was currently active, but it had only been a hope, not a guess  
based on any knowledge he possessed.  
That at least was one problem out of the way. Now he could  
concentrate on the new and improved Anna and Una. They were  
nice girls, but they were so much like the originals in some ways, it  
was scary. If he did not watch out, they could be even more of a  
scourge then his Anna and Una had been.  
Fortunately, they were young and malleable, and with any  
luck, he could direct them into a positive life style. If he could just  
teach them to temper that anger of theirs that is. He also had to find  
out what the deal was with this strength of theirs.  
They were far more powerful than the originals. From what he  
had observed, the same held true for their other form. The girls  
were stronger by far than their fellow humans, and that had  
apparently predated their dip in the spring. That ruled it out as far  
as being a result of the spring's curse.  
He did not think, however, that the strength was natural to  
them. They were too careless and unaware of the consequences in  
their use of it. He had seen them break camping gear, not to  
mention landscape, when not paying attention. That would have to  
be addressed. They might not be the criminals he had made it a  
life-long goal to catch years ago, but he still felt a certain  
responsibility for their actions.  
He closed his eyes and dozed off, making plans for the next  
day and for his eventual rescue. He grimaced. When that  
happened, he'd have to face a board of inquiry over his presence on  
a restricted planet. He hated those. Which in a way was funny,  
because one way or another he seemed to end up in front of one on  
a fairly regular basis.  
  
******************************************************  
  
Xian Pu, the council has reached their decision.  
Shampoo lifted her head, brushing her purple tresses from her  
tired and dirty face. She looked over at her great-grandmother and  
got to her feet. It took a great deal of effort for her not to show the  
effects of 36 hours of nearly constant activity without sleep. She  
managed, somehow. She would not give the curious watchers the  
satisfaction of seeing her looking worn down.  
Shampoo ducked her head and entered the council chamber  
through the low door in the outside wall. She found herself  
effectively blind in the dim light inside after the bright sun of the  
afternoon. Not giving any sign of this, she made her way by  
memory to a position in front of the council. She sensed her great-  
grandmother taking a position beside her, but she did not move her  
head to check. Instead she remained standing, stiffly her eyes  
focused on where she knew the acting senior elder would be sitting.  
As her eyes adjusted, she could slowly made out the row of five  
diminutive and wrinkled elders. They sat in their places, staring at  
her, their expressions giving away nothing of their decision.  
  
Shampoo had been dismayed at the welcome she had received  
when she had arrived at the village. She supposed that in the back  
of her mind she had imagined all the warriors of the village rallying  
behind her as she led them on an assault against the demon Ryouko.  
Instead, she had been treated like a coward and a fool.  
The plane she had commandeered was an important link with  
the outside world. One that was to be used for only the gravest of  
emergencies. Her actions had compromised its existence. Her  
protests of justified usage had gained her a hearing, but it had not  
gone well. She had been dismissed an hour earlier, while the  
council came to its decision as to what to do about her, a decision  
they apparently had now reached.  
  
The elder in charge did not leave her in doubt for long as to the  
attitude of the council. It has been many a year since anyone told  
me a child's story, Xian Pu. It has been almost as many since  
anyone took me for a fool. Her voice was malicious, despite the  
bland expression she wore on her face. While she talked, she looked  
more at Shampoo's great-grandmother than she did at Shampoo.  
For her part, Shampoo's great-grandmother snorted in  
derision. You are every bit the fool you were when I switched you  
for running after that Musk boy, Bii Ter. My granddaughter  
brought serious news. You waste our time with this farce. We have  
no time for you to settle old grudges.  
This has nothing to do with old grudges, Khu Lon. Xian Pu  
set out to restore her honor by defeating an outsider female. She  
returned with her tail between her legs, having no evidence of  
accomplishing her goal and having squandered an important  
resource of the village.  
Shampoo kept her anger at bay with difficulty. It was her  
great-grandmother's task to speak for her, a duty that was looking  
more and more difficult. The faces before her that she had thought  
so impassive now looked petty and vindictive.  
The girl told you. The demon killed the outsider girl.  
The girl was duped by a strategy employed by the outsider.  
She fell for a trick any true child of the Nyuuchiezuu should have  
seen through.  
Fools!  
Enough! Bii Ter brought her staff down on the table in front  
of her with a crash. We are not here to go over this again and  
again. We have heard the evidence, and we have reached our  
decision. Xian Pu has been judged to have failed in her quest. She  
is further judged to have harmed the village by revealing an  
important asset without just cause. To atone for these actions, she  
must prove herself worthy of retaining her status as an Amazon.  
We sentence her to single combat at a place and against a champion  
of our choosing.  
Shampoo perked up; that was not so bad, there was no warrior  
of the village she could not defeat in honorable combat.  
The council selects the matriarch Khu Lon as our champion.  
Shampoo blanched, while her great-grandmother stiffened in  
shock.  
The place. The Pools of Sorrow.  
This is madness! Khu Lon protested.  
Do you refuse the charge the council gives you? Bii Ter  
said, her tone gloating.  
Khu Lon looked back at her with loathing. To refuse the  
orders of the council in this matter would be cause for banishment  
from the tribe. There was no choice in the matter.  
I, of course, accept the charge placed on me by the council.  
Khu Lon's eyes glared promises of vengeance at Bii Ter, but they  
both knew it was an empty threat. No matter what her words on the  
subject, Bii Ter knew Shampoo would not lie about such an  
important matter as a demon. She also knew that Khu Lon would  
have no choice but to go and face Shampoo's demon after the trial  
by combat. If the old stories of the demon's prowess were correct,  
then without the full support of the village, she was unlikely to  
return from that battle.  
After Khu Lon and Shampoo were well gone, Bii Ter turned to  
a shadowy figure standing at the back of the hut and to the side of  
the council. "Enforcer," She said, not bothering to keep the  
contempt from her voice. When the figure came to attention, Bii  
Ter gave her orders. "You will follow Khu Lon and her  
Granddaughter. You will see that they obey the orders of this  
council."  
The figure brandished twin, one handed, double-bladed, battle  
axes, in a salute that, in its own way, reflected every bit as much  
contempt for Bii Ter as Bii Ter's voice had earlier expressed for the  
enforcer. Bii Ter flushed with anger and jerked her head in  
dismissal of the figure, who slipped out the back of the hut as silent  
as the shadow she seemed.  
Bii Ter's face still held an angry glare, but inside she was  
delighted. With Khu Lon's disgusting charity case gone, there was  
no one left in the village who would stand against her quest for the  
leadership. She told herself that she had done great deeds for the  
village this day. She had gotten rid of an anchor around the tribes  
neck this day, one that held them in the past, refusing to let them  
advance into the future. She had also gotten rid of a defective, who  
should have been at the very least cast from the villages ages ago. It  
was a pity about Shampoo. She had the making of a warrior out of  
the legends. Yes, it was sad, but to do the right thing, sometimes  
sacrifices had to be made. It was the duty of a true leader to make  
the hard decisions when they were needed. Bii Ter felt very proud  
of her first day as the new leader of the village.  
  
*******************************************************  
  
A day had passed, and Nodoka was once again in her own  
body. They had made good time during the day and were camped  
only a few minutes away from where a bus would be passing by  
first thing tomorrow morning.  
The bus would take them to the train, which would take them  
to the airport, which would take them home. It was going to be a  
long day, but at the end of it, they would be sleeping on futons,  
under a roof, inside a warm house.  
It was still early, and the companions were entertaining  
themselves, each in their own way.  
  
"Arrrhhhggggg!! I'll NEVER get this right!" Annakane  
screamed. She tossed down a pair of three-foot by one-inch metal  
rods she had been holding, one end of each bar wrapped in leather.  
Unakane smirked across the campfire at her. She had a similar set  
of bars in her hands.  
"I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of it.  
It's not that hard."  
"I haven't seen you manage it yet," her sister replied.  
"Just watch." Biting her upper lip in concentration, Unakane  
reached out with the two bars, placing the end of each of them on  
either side of an egg that was laying on the ground. She slowly  
brought them together till they lightly touched the egg. Steadying  
her hands, she drew a deep breath, then slowly started to pick the  
egg up. She got it about two feet off the ground and started to move  
it sideways, toward a pot of boiling water that was sitting on the  
fire. There was a loud crunch, and what was left of the egg fell  
sizzling into the fire.  
Annakane gave a snicker, and said, "See? It's impossible."  
"You'd better hope not," a gravely voice said. Agent P  
reached out with an artificial hand and plucked an egg out of a  
basket that looked like it contained the entire output of a village's  
communal chicken coup. For a good reason. It did. P had insisted  
they buy them in the last village they had passed through, along  
with the four bars of steel stock. He had not explained his reasons  
until they had made camp, and he had declared that his two students  
would be making their own dinner tonight. Now he looked at the  
two girls as he set a second egg down in front of Annakane. "If you  
two expect to eat tonight, you'd better get some of these into the  
pot. That is, unless you like your eggs raw?"  
Both girls groaned, and with a sigh of resignation, they both  
picked up their oversized chopsticks and went back to trying to  
move the eggs from ground to pot.  
  
Over on the other side of the campfire, Nodoka sat staring into  
space.  
*This is very interesting. If I did not know better, I would  
swear I was back home at my special place.*  
"Special place?" Nodoka asked Xian Pu, who was speaking to  
her from inside the tiara on her head.  
*It was a small clearing high up in the mountain above the  
village. It was on the edge of a cliff and edged all around with  
heavy bushes. I always felt as if I was the only person in the world  
when I was there. It was a wonderful place, you could see for miles.  
It had a small basin that was always full of water that seeped from a  
spring farther up the mountain. It was clear and perfect, and the  
water was so cold it hurt to drink it straight.*  
"How are you seeing and hearing?" Nodoka asked curiously.  
  
*It just seems as if you all were just on the other side of the  
bushes. As for seeing, I see what you see when I look into my pool.  
I used to dream that it was a magic spring, and that if I only looked  
hard enough, I would be able to see other places in it. It looks like  
that is true in this place.*  
"It sounds like a very lovely spot." Nodoka said. She looked  
around their campsite, and a small smile quirked at the corner of her  
mouth as she watched Anna and Una try to cook their dinner.  
Frustration was evident on their faces, and there was now a large  
pile of broken eggs littering the ground in front of each one of them.  
There was one person missing, however. "Xian Pu?" she said  
softly, not wanting to distract Annakane, who was just about to  
finally get an egg to the pot.  
*Yes.*  
"Did you see where Ukyou went? She left before you and I  
changed places, and I'm afraid I was cleaning and did not notice."  
*Cleaning?* Xian Pu said in surprise.  
"Well, I had been away from the house for some time, and it  
needed a good going over."  
*But . . .* Xian Pu started to say, meaning to point out that  
Nodoka's house in this place was not real. At that point she noticed  
the handful of bracken she had gathered up from around the edge of  
her pool and was about to throw off the edge of the cliff. She had  
always had to clean up the clearing a little whenever she came to  
visit, and she had not even noticed she had been doing it while  
watching the outside world in the pool. She hastily revised what  
she was about to say. *I saw Ukyou going off to the west after we  
set up camp.*  
"Thank you." Nodoka started off in that direction, and then  
paused. "Xian Pu?"  
*Yes.*  
"I wanted to say we . . . I, am sorry I did not consult with you  
before leaving. I know you must want to visit your old home. As  
soon as I get the girls home, I'll make arrangements to return so you  
can visit. I suppose we will have to decide how we are going to  
accommodate each others lives when that is done."  
Silence answered Nodoka, and after a minute she was ready to  
call out Xian Pu's name, to ask what was wrong. Before she could  
do so however, Xian Pu answered her in a hesitant voice.  
*That will not be necessary. I will not be returning to the  
village.*  
"What? But why? It's your home. Surely you must--"  
*No! It is not!* Nodoka winced slightly at the volume of Xian  
Pu's mental voice. She felt great relief when the little redhead  
continued in a quieter voice. *Please, you must understand. I have  
her memories, and her body, but I am not Xian Pu. Xian Pu died  
three hundred years ago. I am simply you with her body and  
memories. Fate has created me, and I must live with that, but I will  
not try to pass myself off as the real Xian Pu.*  
"Xian Pu," Nodoka said in a sad sympathetic voice.  
*Don't feel sorry for me,* Xian Pu said in a cheerful tone. *I  
have a new life, and that is not to be despised. There are many  
wondrous things in this world, and I look forward to seeing and  
experiencing many of them.*  
Nodoka nodded at this. "That is true, and I look forward to  
showing you this new world." Nodoka hesitated for a moment.  
"This is awkward to say, after offering to show you the world, but I  
have a favor to ask of you."  
*Of course.*  
"Do you suppose you could maybe take a nap, or go for a walk  
or something. I do not wish to exclude you, but I need to discuss  
something with Ukyou that is a private matter between us. I  
suppose I will have to get used to you sharing my life, but this  
involves Ukyou's life as much as mine, and I'd like to give her as  
much privacy as I can.  
*It is no problem. It will be interesting to see how large this  
place is.*  
"Thank you." Nodoka resumed her walk, making a mental  
note to explore her own world when next she was there.  
  
"Haaiiiyaaa!" Ukyou screamed, bringing her baker's peel  
around in a vicious arc that splintered the piece of dead wood that  
was her target. She had originally set out to cut and gather some  
wood for the fire, but that goal was long forgotten. Sometime  
during the act of breaking up the dead tree she had located, she had  
found everything going red.  
The inoffensive wood had suddenly become a stand in for all  
that was wrong with her life. Her blows were not aimed at the tree,  
but at images of Genma, Ranma, her own father, Akane, and last, at  
a brown-haired boy wearing her face, who seemed to be laughing at  
her.  
Sweat ran down her face, matting her hair to her head. Her  
clothing was soaked with the perspiration from her body, and it was  
becoming more and more difficult to hold on to her weapon, but  
still she lashed out. There was no longer any style or technique to  
her moves, she was simply bashing away as hard as she could.  
Blisters formed on her callused hands and then burst, but she  
ignored the stinging pain. Genma, Ranma, Akane, her Father, all  
had been vanquished, leaving her with one last opponent. No  
matter how hard she lashed out, no matter how hard she swung, she  
could not make that laughing brown-haired boy go away.  
The tree was reduced to pitiful shattered remains, and still she  
battered at it, grinding the shavings into the heavy wet earth. "No!  
No! No!" She screamed aloud, in time with her baker's peel as it  
rose and fell. At last the time came when she could no longer raise  
her weapon, no matter how hard she strained with her aching arms.  
She wrapped herself around the oversized spatula, its edge  
embedded in the dirt, and slowly slid down till she was kneeling.  
She leaned her forehead against the leather wrapped handle, and  
tears mixed with the sweat running down her face.  
She held that pose for what seemed like forever, till a gentle  
hand took her by the shoulder and turned her to face its owner.  
Arms went around her, and she resisted for a moment, but then  
Nodoka pulled her into an embrace, and she buried her head in the  
older woman's shoulder and let out her grief.  
A little while later, Ukyou pushed herself away from Nodoka,  
who let her go with visible reluctance. "I'm sorry for this. I don't  
know what came over me," Ukyou said.  
Nodoka raised an eyebrow at this. "In the last three days you  
have witnessed magic, seen a space ship crash, met an alien, learned  
that your quest for justice is over without resolution, and the last,  
you have been cursed to turn into a boy. Frankly, I'm surprised you  
are still sane."  
"Who says I am? I don't see you smashing up the landscape,  
and you have at least as much of a reason as I do."  
"Just because you don't see it, does not mean I'm not  
reacting." Nodoka raised a hand and touched the wooden tiara that  
was entwined in her hair. "While I was in here I discovered a room  
in my house that was not there before."  
"Your house?" Ukyou asked in surprise.  
"Oh, I forgot, you wouldn't know. When Xian Pu is here, the  
talisman builds a copy of my home for me to stay in. It is just like I  
remember it."  
"Strange," Ukyou said, the information giving her something  
other then herself to think about.  
"But very comfortable. Xian Pu tell me she is in a favorite  
place of hers from when she was still alive."  
Ukyou suddenly looked embarrassed. "Xian Pu, oh great, just  
what I needed, one other person to see me acting like a jackass!"  
Nodoka frowned a little at Ukyou's rough language, but said.  
"You needn't worry. I asked her to give us some privacy. She is  
off exploring her new world, seeing how large it is."  
"You can do that?"  
"Apparently. I did something similar myself. As I started to  
tell you, I found a room that was not in my original home. A Kendo  
Dojo, complete with practice dummies. I told Xian Pu I was  
inattentive because I was cleaning, but in truth, for most of that time  
I was doing something very similar to what you were doing here."  
"Maybe so." Ukyou snorted. "But at least you did it more or  
less in private. For a while there the whole Red Army could have  
walked by, and I wouldn't have noticed." She got to her feet and  
dusted herself off. "Anyway, one good thing came from it."  
"What is that?"  
"I learned that I can't make what I am go away, no matter how  
hard I hit something. I stopped being a girl a long time ago. If I'd  
never been cursed, maybe I could have gone on fooling myself that  
I could someday go the other way, but now I know the truth."  
Ukyou looked Nodoka straight in the eye. "Ukyou Kuonji,  
girl, disappeared a long time ago." Ukyou carried a water bottle  
fastened to her belt. Now she pulled it free, and after taking the top  
off, she dumped it over her head. "I won't hide from the truth  
anymore. For the last ten years, I've had no true identity. I've left  
my family behind, cut myself off from them. They had a daughter,  
that daughter is long dead. If you will have me, I would be proud to  
be Ukyou Saotome, boy."  
Nodoka looked at him. She felt a brief feeling of guilt at going  
along with this, but she could not keep a smile from showing on her  
face. It was true that a daughter would make her happy but it was a  
son she wanted more then life itself. She looked at Ukyou more  
closely thinking what a fine boy he was, what a fine man he could  
become. The mannerisms that were so inappropriate in a girl were  
fine and good in a man.  
She suppressed her feelings of guilt, and said. "Very well. As  
of this minute, I consider you my son. When we get back to Japan,  
I will start the paperwork."  
  
  
"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" When Nodoka and Ukyou got back to the  
camp site, both Akanes were dancing around the campsite, slapping  
hands and shouting out in glee. When they spotted Nodoka, they  
shouted out in happiness. "We did it! we did it!" A part of Nodoka  
noted they were once again speaking in perfect harmony, the other  
part looked into the boiling pot, at the two eggs rolling over in the  
hot water. She then looked at the large pile of broken shells on the  
ground.  
"Congratulations," she said rather weakly. Those eggs had not  
been cheap.  
Later on, both Annakane and Unakane ate their single boiled  
egg with every indication of satisfaction, even if they glanced rather  
wistfully at the large quantity of broiled fish the rest of their group  
was eating.  
"Never thought they'd do it," P whispered out of the side of  
his mouth at Ukyou.  
Ukyou gave a short laugh. "That's not the miracle here. The  
real story is that they managed to boil an egg without ruining it."  
  
Both Akanes had made good on the original's offer to cook  
dinner for the group some time ago. Only the fact that they'd tried  
their cooking out on each other first had saved the rest of their party  
from a long delay in their trip while they recovered. The two  
Akanes' stomachs seemed to be as strong as the rest of their bodies,  
but even they had a hard time handling what they had put in each  
other mouths.  
  
**************************************************  
  
Plum swallowed nervously and looked across the hut at the  
grim-faced old woman, who was currently heating up some water  
while a sodden and very unhappy pink and white cat sat at her feet.  
The elder did not look to be in the mood for casual conversation,  
but the scroll Plum had recently found had made what she had to  
say anything but casual. But how to broach the subject without  
getting her head torn off before she got to the important point?  
Start with the important point she supposed. "Xian Pu is  
alive, she said, and held her breath.  
The old woman shot her an angry look. What do you mean,  
Xian Pu is alive? she snapped out angrily. I am not in the mood  
for games. Of course Xian Pu is alive. She is right there, Khu Lon  
finished with a snarl, pointing at the cat.  
Plum abased herself, bowing so low her hair brushed the floor.  
I am sorry, elder. I did not mean your Great Granddaughter, but  
the one she is named for. I have been studying the scrolls and have  
recently found a section that said the Amazons were to be notified if  
ever one resembling Xian Pu were to come out of the spring of  
drowned girl."  
Khu Lon scowled at her. This is true, but I have little interest  
in some man or animal that resembles her. Take your story to the  
elders at the village. It is the sort of issue that will interest them.  
One of no importance whatsoever. They can talk on it for hours  
without having to do anything.  
Plum swallowed nervously and almost took the suggestion in  
the face of the elder's obvious anger, but her instincts told her that  
this was the one she should be telling her tale to. Forgive this  
unworthy one, but I think you should hear this. For a second Plum  
was afraid the old warrior was going to strike her, but she settled  
back with an angry scowl. Almost absently, she picked up the small  
cat at her feet and began to stroke it.  
Very well. I am listening. This had better be important!  
Plum swallowed nervously once again and then began her tale  
of the three recent visitors, and how one of them had fallen into the  
spring of drowned girl. She got as far as telling how the girl from  
the spring claimed to be Xian Pu, before she was interrupted.  
Stop! Khu Lon leaned forward, her eyes wide and her body  
trembling with emotion. This girl, describe her! Plum obliged,  
and as she did the elder nodded her head, as if checking off each  
feature she mentioned from a list in her head. Neither one of them  
noticed the eyes of the cat on the elder's lap getting wider and wider  
as Plum described the girl in great detail.  
When Plum finished her description, the old woman was  
silent. Steam started to escape from the kettle, and without looking  
at what she was doing, she plucked it from the fire and upended it  
over the cat, and fell over backward as a full grown and very naked  
teenaged girl manifested in the position formerly held by the cat.  
Great-grandmother, I have very important news! Shampoo  
shouted. She was answered by a muffled voice under her.  
That is very interesting Shampoo, but for now. Get Off Me!  
  
Shampoo slipped into her now dry dress with pleasure, it was a  
little chilly for wandering around in the all together. Her great-  
grandmother was lost in thought, so Shampoo joined Plum in a cold  
lunch while they waited for her great-grandmother to tell her what  
they were to do next. Shampoo was fully involved in the intricacies  
of the quadruple layer chicken, fish, bacon and tomato sandwich,  
when Khu Lon started to laugh. It started out soft and gentle, but  
soon became a roar of glee. Shampoo bigsweated and wondered if  
her great-grandmother had finally lost it.  
Khu Lon noticed Shampoo and Plum's faces and broke off  
suddenly, coughing slightly behind a raised hand. She looked up at  
Shampoo with a grin on her face that made Plum shudder. It  
would seem that we owe Bii Ter a debt, great granddaughter. If we  
had not come to Jusenkyo, we would never have learned of this, and  
we might have gone to our deaths, and Bii Ter would have been  
most 'sad' to hear of that, of course. How happy she will be to see  
us return home victorious.  
Shampoo was rather disgruntled to hear her new curse  
described as a beneficial thing, but her curiosity overrode that  
feeling. I don't understand.  
It is simple. Xian Pu is back. Xian Pu the demon slayer.  
Xian Pu of the legends. We must seek her out and enlist her aid.  
With her by our side, we cannot help but succeed.  
  
Shampoo shook her head. I do not see how great-  
grandmother. I told you that the one who defeated me on the  
challenge log and the one the demon Ryouko killed also matched  
Plum's description. How can this one do any better against the  
demon?  
You did not listen closely enough. The one Plum saw  
claimed to be Xian Pu herself. What is more, from what Plum tells  
me, she behaved in the manner of the Amazons and the woman who  
fell in the spring did not even know of our existence. The one you  
chased might have possessed her body, but if she had been the true  
Xian Pu, she would have known our laws. She would not have  
challenged you as she did, and even if she had, she would not have  
run from you. Besides, I know one piece of information you do not.  
I had a little 'chat' with the guide about that girl. She could not  
have been Xian Pu, she was not a girl originally." Shampoo  
blanched, as she remembered something Plum had mentioned to  
her, surely she had not been defeated by a . .  
.Great-grandmother, tell me I was not defeated by a . .  
.Monkey!  
No girl, close, but not quite. It would seem that the girl you  
chased was a young boy who had the misfortune to fall into the  
spring at the same time Prince Herb was visiting with the  
Chiisuiton.  
A boy! Shampoo exclaimed in shock, but that means . . .  
You gave her the wrong kiss, something we will have to  
rectify, but later, and if the demon has not truly destroyed his soul.  
But great-grandmother, I saw her die.  
I know, but from the details you told me, I am not so sure she  
did. In any case, it is of no matter. We will find out one way or the  
other later. For now, our goal is to locate the Demon Killer, Xian  
Pu and that will be a tricky enough proposition on its own.  
Plum coughed slightly and handed Khu Lon a slip of paper she  
had retrieved from an old envelope. Khu Lon looked at the  
numbers written on it in curiosity. And this would be?  
That is the phone number and address of one of the girls who  
accompanied the woman who has the Xian Pu curse. She might be  
able to help you locate Xian Pu. Her name is Akane.  
Very well done, child, Khu Lon said, beaming in pleasure at  
Plum, who repressed a shudder. A happy smiling Khu Lon was  
almost as scary as an angry one. Still, she felt a warm glow at the  
elders praise. Now all that is needed is to book passage for two to  
Japan. Khu Lon said,  
For three honored elder. A quite voice said from the door.  
  
Perfume! Shampoo shouted out with glee, throwing herself  
across the room and glomping her cousin in a strong, but tender  
hug.  
Khu Lon looked at the tall brown-haired girl with pleasure.  
Our luck continues to grow. I'm glad to have you, girl.  
Perfume flushed. I wish I could claim credit, but 'she' sent  
me to watch you.  
To get rid of you rather, I think, Khu Lon mused, then  
added, but you need feel no regret. You had your duty, and it is to  
our benefit that Bii Ter is a fool. She thought only to get rid of one  
who she despises and who she believes would be an ally in my  
camp. Instead, she has given us a truly great gift. In truth, I fail to  
see how we can be anything but victorious now.  
Despite her words, Khu Lon felt a great sadness in her  
breast. There were few people she loved, and she was leading two  
of them to what could be their deaths. She prayed that Xian Pu  
would be the ace they needed to win the hand fate had dealt them.  
  
**************************************************  
  
Xian Pu had made a mistake. It had not seemed like that at  
first, but she was now realizing how bad a one it had been. When  
she had left her small pool and gone walking, to allow Nodoka  
some privacy, she had not had a destination in mind. Lacking any  
specific direction to go in, she had let her feet follow a familiar  
path, one that lead to her home village. Or rather, the village that  
resided inside the mystic talisman that was her current home. At  
first it had been a pleasant surprise, and she has spent an enjoyable  
time exploring, amazed at the fact that the talisman had been able to  
duplicate the village so well.  
There were blanks, of course. The little wizard pig had told  
her that the talisman could only create things that were already in  
her mind. There were places she had never been in the village, such  
as the hall that housed the council of elders. She had been a month  
shy of her sixteenth birthday when the attack that ended in her death  
occurred, and she had not yet been declared an adult. When she had  
entered the building, with just a touch of guilt, she had found an  
empty room. The walls, ceiling and floor, were the same as most of  
the village homes, but that was all there was; no decorations and no  
furniture, just a bare room. Even some of the homes she had visited  
were mostly empty, as she had not visited them often enough to  
remember then clearly.  
Then, she had come to her own home. That had been a very  
different situation indeed. She had spent hours going through the  
clutter inside, finding things she thought lost forever. Her favorite  
sword, her favorite set of throwing knives, an outfit she particularly  
liked, the bright green one with the light armor sewn into the lining.  
She had doffed the clothing she had been wearing, one of Nodoka's  
kimonos, which fit her like a sack, and had hurriedly dressed herself  
in true Amazon style.  
  
For some time she had been happy and content, rummaging  
through memories that to her were only days old. It was not long,  
however, before she became very aware of what was missing.  
People, and more than that, the noise that people make. As  
suddenly as that, the joy went out of her, and a chill ran up her  
spine. The village was just as she remembered, it was true, but only  
in a visual sense. There were no sounds, no movement, that she  
herself did not make. Not a bird chirped or flew, not a child laughed  
or played. No fathers calling their families in to dinner. There were  
not even any elders grumbling to each other on the deplorable lack  
of character in the young warriors of today. Nothing.  
Xian Pu tried to convince herself that it was nothing to be  
bothered about. Of course, the talisman could not duplicate real  
people or animals. Try as she would, however, she could not keep  
the fear that was growing in her mind at bay. She suddenly became  
desperate to hear a noise not made by herself, any noise. She stilled  
herself and listened with all the concentration she could muster,  
trying to hear something.  
Nothing! Only the wind sighing through the bushes and trees .  
. . Wind? How could there be wind? Nothing was moving, not the  
trees, not the tall grass. If there was wind, why did she not feel it on  
her skin? She listened closely to the sigh of the wind,  
Hoooooooooo, which then died down, for just a second. Then, it  
resumed, Heeeeeeeeeeeee. Xian Pu frowned; there was a different  
tone to the second breeze. Then it too died down, and in a second,  
when it blew again, it has the same tone as when she had first  
noticed it, Hoooooooooo.  
She listened carefully, trying to pinpoint a source for the  
sound, and as she did, she began to anticipate the rhythm of it. Her  
breath started to move in time with the sound. She inhaled on one  
gust of, Heeeeeeeeeeeee, exhaled on the next one of Hoooooooooo.  
This went on for some time as she tried futilely to locate the source.  
Then, she made the connection.  
Xian Pu paled. By the gods, it was breathing. Not wind, but  
the sound of some giant beast inhaling and exhaling. How? How  
could it be here? The pig had said no other creatures would share  
this place. But one was. She could hear it.  
Xian Pu looked around wildly, staring at every bit of cover that  
could possiblyF conceal the creature. Even at cover that could not  
possible cover anything as large as what was making that relentless  
noise. Sweat started to bead on her face, and old childhood terrors  
reared their heads. Her secret shame once more making itself  
known.  
  
Xian Pu was a coward. Oh, she had managed to conceal it  
from the tribe and from her beloved parents, but always the  
knowledge had eaten at her like a canker. Now her old fears were  
back in full force. Coward, her inner voice taunted her. Afraid of  
the dark, afraid of the monsters the dwelled there.  
That girl, Plum. She had said the village thought her a hero.  
That was a joke, a lie. The other warriors spoke of the thrill of  
battle, the joy of bathing in your enemies blood. She felt none of  
that. When she had fought the monsters, and the outsiders who  
commanded them, she had been sick with dread, literally. No joy,  
no rush, just a ball of terror in her guts that would not go away even  
when she paused long enough during a brief quiet moment during  
the chase to spew her guts.  
She had killed ten of them, counting the two cat-demons, and  
still she had felt nothing but fear. Only at the end, when she knew  
she was dead and it was too late, had her fear fled. Even then she  
had not felt the warrior's joy at a death well earned, only a numb  
thankfulness that it was finally over.  
"Xian Pu," a soft voice said.  
Xian Pu screamed in fright and whirled around, bringing her  
sword out of its sheath in one smooth, lethal motion. Facing her,  
looking greatly startled, was an older woman. Taller by a good  
margin than Xian Pu, she had brown hair with a slight red tinge tied  
up behind her head and soft brown eyes, eyes that were open wide  
in surprise at the moment, staring at Xian Pu. Familiar eyes. Eyes  
she had seen reflected in a stream just a little while ago. She was  
wearing a traveling kimono, one that Xian Pu recognized after her  
heart stopped pounding in her chest.  
"Nodoka-san?" she asked hesitantly. Incredulity in her voice.  
The other woman gave a relieved sigh, and said, "That's right,  
dear. Goodness, you gave me such a start. My own fault, I  
imagine. If you had suddenly spoken from behind me in my own  
home, I'm sure I would have been very startled myself. . ."  
Whatever else Nodoka might have said was lost as she suddenly  
found herself locked in a rib threatening embrace by the small red-  
haired girl she now shared her body with.  
Nodoka stood, her hands out to the side as Xian Pu hugged her  
fiercely. Despite her sense of personal space being seriously  
compromised, Nodoka could not bring herself to remonstrate with  
the girl or to try and move her away. After a few seconds, she  
brought her arms in and tentatively returned the hug, if with a lot  
less pressure then what the other girl was exerting. "I'm glad to  
meet you too, dear, but do you suppose you could give me a chance  
to breath?" Nodoka  
said finally, after what she felt was a long enough span of time.  
Xian Pu broke her hold immediately and moved back quickly,  
her face blazing red. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me.  
You were just so suddenly there, and I . . .Well, I was just glad to  
see you," she trailed off lamely.  
"There is no need to be embarrassed. You startled me, that is  
all."  
Xian Pu shook her head in denial. "I should not have reacted  
so. My grandmother would have laughed to see me in such a state .  
. ." Xian Pu suddenly trailed off, realizing she was talking too  
much. Then a look of puzzlement crossed her face. "Nodoka-san,  
what are you doing here? How are you here?"  
"I'm not sure myself. I know I lay down to sleep some time  
ago, and I don't remember waking up. I think I may be dreaming,  
and somehow I ended up in your world. Unless of course I'm  
dreaming I'm in your world and am not really here at all."  
Xian Pu shook her head and held her fingers up to her temples.  
"Please, don't make me any more confused. I know I'm not  
dreaming. If you have doubts, you can ask me tomorrow when you  
are sure you are awake. . ." Xian Pu trailed off again, and she  
frowned. "That is, if you do wake up. The sorcerer did say that he  
was not entirely sure how the talisman would work. Maybe it's  
drawn you into my world, and we are both now trapped here."  
"Now it's your turn not to borrow trouble," Nodoka chided her  
lightly. "I think that the easiest explanation is that somehow I can  
visit you in my dreams, and that maybe you will be able to do the  
same when our roles are reversed. If, on the other hand, I'm merely  
dreaming this, then no harm will be done, and the real you will be  
able to confirm that when I wake. I see no need to search for any  
other explanation for now. Let us enjoy this time together. I've  
wanted to truly meet you for some time now."  
"And I you," Xian Pu said, but then she paused, and her face  
took on a worried expression. "Nodoka-san, do you hear that?" she  
asked.  
"What, dear?"  
"That breathing," Xian Pu said, then lowering her voice, she  
added in a worried tone, "I think there is something in here with us.  
Something big. But I can not find it. Listen, and you will hear it."  
Taking Xian Pu's advice, Nodoka listened closely, and soon  
she could make out the noise the young girl was referring to. For a  
minute she looked puzzled, and then surprised, and finally, just a  
little embarrassed. In a gentle voice, she said, "That is Ukyou, dear.  
I'm afraid she . . .he, is having trouble sleeping, but does not wish  
me to know, so sh- he, is breathing as he believes a sleeper breaths.  
My husband often did the same thing."  
"Ukyou? But how . . .? Oh, I see," Xian Pu said, blushing  
lightly. "I was foolish. I forgot that what you hear, I hear."  
"Foolish? No, this is a very strange situation, and we both  
have much to learn of our new lives. Look at the fact that we are  
here, together, something we neither expected to happen. It is good,  
however. I have been most eager to learn more of you."  
Xian Pu brightened at this. "That would be a good thing. We  
are to be together for many a year. We need to know each other  
well," she said, looking Nodoka up and down, her eyes resting for a  
minute on the sword slung behind her back. "I see you are a  
warrior."  
Nodoka followed her eyes and shrugged her shoulder slightly,  
causing the sword to settle more comfortably. "Not really. I was  
trained by my uncle, but that was many years ago, and it was never  
serious. I have kept my hand in, but I have only practiced alone.  
I'm only a pretend warrior, unlike you." She smiled and looked over  
her shoulders at the sword there. "In a way, that makes this the  
proper weapon for me. I gave my real weapon to Ukyou to hold.  
This one only exists in this world. A make believe sword for a  
make believe warrior."  
Xian Pu flinched. Nodoka's comments were hitting a bit close  
to home. "My sword, too, only exists here," Xian Pu said, trying to  
cover her lapse. "So they are a good match. Shall we see which of  
us has the stronger imagination?" she added with a quirk of her lip.  
For a minute, Nodoka looked uncertain, but then a small smile  
crossed her own lips. "I would like that." Reaching her hand over  
her shoulder, she drew her sword. She dropped into the familiar  
ready posture of her uncle's style, and waited for Xian Pu to make  
her move. For her part, Xian Pu appeared startled. A strange look  
appeared in her eyes, and she assumed a position that was a mirror  
image of Nodoka.  
They moved toward each other and exchanged blows, not in  
combat, but in the stylized form of a Kata. Xian Pu paid close  
attention to Nodoka's style, a style she was intimately familiar with.  
Nodoka lacked the fluidity she remembered, and some of the forms  
were not just so, but there could be no mistaking it. It was the same  
style her father had taught her.  
Xian Pu backed off. Nodoka surprised, lowered her own  
sword. "Is something the matter, dear?"  
"Your style. You said your uncle taught you. May I  
know his name?  
"Katsuhito Masaki," Nodoka answered. "Why do you ask?"  
Xian Pu did not answer immediately; she seemed to be in the  
throes of some powerful emotion. Her eyes were squeezed tightly  
shut, and tears were streaming out from under the lids and running  
down her cheeks. Then, without opening her eyes, she said, "Does  
your family keep a shrine in Japan?" When Nodoka confirmed that  
yes, they did, the tears began to run in even greater quantity down  
her cheeks.  
Concerned, Nodoka moved closer to the stricken girl. She  
reached out and gently touched her shoulder, while asking, "What  
is it, dear? What's the matter?" Then she grunted in surprise as for  
the second time in less then half an hour the air was driven from her  
lungs by a powerful hug.  
Xian Pu's muffled voice floated up from where it was pressed  
tightly into Nodoka's chest. "Family, we're family."  
This comment startled Nodoka enough that she placed her  
hands on Xian Pu's shoulders and pushed her gently away. "I don't  
understand. What do you mean dear?" She asked the little redhead.  
Xian Pu wiped tears from her eyes, and said, "My father's  
name before he married my mother was Masaki, and his family kept  
a shrine in Japan. Don't you see? That's why I was called forth  
from the spring after so many years. Your blood is my blood.  
We're family."  
Nodoka could only stare at her, her mind whirling with the  
implications. Part of her was ready to deny Xian Pu's claim. The  
evidence was too circumstantial. The vast majority of her mind,  
however, grabbed onto the concept like a life line.  
Ten years of solitude had made Nodoka a very private and  
insular person, more so even then the typical Japanese. While she  
had been prepared to do what was right in regards to Xian Pu, her  
soul quailed at the thought of how intimately connected the two of  
them were. If they were family though, that made a great deal of  
difference. They were still closer then two people had any business  
being, but at least this would make it easier to deal with.  
Nodoka moved forward and, for the first time, initiated contact  
between the two of them. She gathered the excited Xian Pu up in a  
hug and kissed the top of her head. It was her turn to strain ribs, and  
she did so. This time, the feeling of the other girl's warmth pressed  
against her did not feel like an intrusion, but was comfortable,  
fanning an ember in her that had long been just a dim coal. Family,  
someone to love, this was something Nodoka had craved for years.  
Breaking the hug, Nodoka drew Xian Pu down to the ground  
beside her, and said, "Tell me of your father and of his family, and  
I will tell you of mine." Xian Pu readily agreed and eagerly  
launched into an account of her immediate family, close relatives,  
distant relatives, the lady across the way who's husband made the  
best cookies in the whole village, and more.  
  
Nodoka was overwhelmed, but soon realized that the young  
girl was not talking so much to her as she was trying to lock her  
entire childhood into her own memory, to keep it bright and shiny  
for as long as she could. It brought home to Nodoka just how  
terrible this situation must be for Xian Pu. For her, less then a hand  
of days had passed, but in that short span of time she had lost  
everything. The youngest child in her memory would be over two  
hundred years dead. So Nodoka added nothing to the conversation  
but her presence. She simply sat and kept the younger girl company  
as Xian Pu went over every tiny detail of her home and family.  
After what seemed like hours, Xian Pu started to taper off, her  
voice hoarse with use. The pauses between bursts of descriptions  
became longer as she had to search her brain for more details to  
mention. Nodoka waited for one such gap and interjected her own  
voice into the monolog Xian Pu had been maintaining. "My, your  
home sounds wonderful. Now that I know I have family there, I  
really must visit it once I get us and Ukyou settled."  
Xian Pu's happy expression vanished. She tucked her head  
down till her chin nearly touched her chest, and her hair fell over  
her face. She said in a soft voice, "If you wish, of course you may,  
but . . . if you go, please don't tell them about me, or let me out  
while you're there." Tears streamed down her cheeks, clearly  
visible despite the veil of hair that hung forward to hide her face.  
The girl's pain struck through Nodoka's heart like a knife, and  
before she thought about what she was doing she had moved over to  
Xian Pu and drawn her to her chest. Just as she had done for Ukyou  
earlier that day. Stroking the red-haired head that was tucked just  
below her chin, she whispered, "Tell me what it is."  
  
"I want to go home," Xian Pu whispered into Nodoka's  
kimono, "but home is gone. Everyone I knew, everyone I loved,  
gone. If it were miles away, I could walk it. If it were across an  
ocean, I could swim it. How do you cross time? How do I swim  
back three hundred years? I want to go back so badly, but I am not  
me. The people there would not, could not, greet me."  
"Why? You said something of this before, but why would  
they deny you?"  
"It is our law. The curse is not important, it is the person that  
matters. If a person is cursed to turn into a pig, you may not cook  
them and claim it was nothing but an animal. If a person changes  
into another person, or another sex, it is the original that matters.  
To them I would be just you, not Xian Pu. Xian Pu died three  
hundred years ago. All that is left is Nodoka Saotome, who  
sometimes looks like, and thinks like, the dead Amazon child, Xian  
Pu."  
"But that isn't the case. You are an individual, unique. You  
may have been born of my body, but there is nothing of me . . . ."  
Nodoka trailed off, a strange expression on her face. Xian Pu  
pulled herself back slightly and looked up at the older woman with  
tear stained eyes. She brushed at her eyes with the back of her  
hand, angry at her show of weakness, and asked.  
"What is it?"  
For a second Nodoka did not answer, but then she shook her  
head slightly and looked down at the young girl. "It's nothing," she  
said, with a slight smile. "I just realized that after living ten years  
on my own, I have suddenly, in less then twenty four hours,  
acquired both a son and a daughter."  
"What!" Xian Pu blinked, and then enlightenment dawned.  
"You mean me?" she asked, in surprise. "But I don't understand.  
I'm a curse."  
"No!" Nodoka said vehemently. "You are a unique person,  
yourself and none other. One who was born from my body as  
surely as if I had given birth to you in the normal fashion."  
Xian Pu shook her head in denial. "No, that can't be. I told  
you. The person who received the curse is the person that is there.  
I am a shadow of the past."  
"You are wrong Xian Pu!" Nodoka said, putting her hands on  
the girls shoulders and looking deep into her eyes. "Those are laws.  
Laws made by people. Fallible people. Maybe they would not  
acknowledge you, but those laws have no binding on me. To me  
you are my daughter." As Nodoka spoke, her voice grew firmer, and  
more commanding, and she finished with such a tone that Xian Pu  
could not bring herself to argue with her. Instead, she was aware of  
a sudden unclenching in her chest, as if a great pressure had  
suddenly been relieved. She leaned forward till her head was once  
again pillowed on Nodoka's breast and wept, but this time the tears  
were not of sorrow.  
  
For long moments the two women, one old, one young, held  
that pose, till Nodoka finally said in a hesitant voice. "What do you  
think of Ranko?"  
"What?" Xian Pu said, her voice puzzled at this question. "I  
don't understand. Who is Ranko?"  
"You are, if you like the name," Nodoka said, and as the other  
girl looked at her in continued puzzlement, she continued. "You  
have said over and over again that you are not Xian Pu, but only her  
shadow. Well, if that is the case, maybe you should have a new  
name, one that is your own and not that of the girl who died so long  
ago. My son's name was Ranma. It would be something to keep of  
his, now that he is gone."  
For a few minutes Xian Pu considered the idea. "Ranko," she  
said, tasting the name. She grimaced slightly. It sounded strange  
and rough. Not at all like her own smooth and silky name, but then  
she stopped that thought. Xian Pu was not her name. Shadows do  
not have names. She could see in Nodoka's face that this meant a  
lot to her, so she put on a cheerful expression, and said, "Ranko!  
Yes, I think I could get used to it." When Nodoka's face broke into  
a wide smile at her words, Xian Pu decided, that she could indeed  
get use to it. The newly-named Ranko could not help but smile  
with her new mother, but then a thought occurred to her. "You said  
a son and daughter. Who is the son?"  
"Oh, that is Ukyou. I asked him the other day. My husband  
made a promise to him, and it was the only way I could keep his  
word."  
Ranko gaped at her. "But Ukyou is a girl."  
"Yes, I know, he was, but I when I offered to adopt him as my  
daughter, he would only agree if I took him as my son. He had  
made a promise to himself, and with my husband gone, he did not  
feel he could return to being a girl."  
"But that is stupid. Why would she wish to become a boy?  
Boy are, are, well, they just are. No right-thinking girl would ever  
want to be a boy."  
"I agree," Nodoka said with a smile, "and I would not have  
gone along with it but for one thing."  
"What was that?" Ranko asked.  
Nodoka suddenly looked a lot less certain, and instead of  
answering Ranko's question, she asked one of her own. "Ranko,  
how old are you?"  
Ranko looked surprised, but answered. "Well, I . . . I mean,  
Xian Pu was almost sixteen. In another month she would have gone  
through her adult ceremony and become a full warrior of the  
village."  
Nodoka considered this, and then, her face still slightly red,  
said, "well, you see, Ranko, there are some girls who are fond of  
other girls . . ." Nodoka continued explaining why she felt Ukyou  
would do well as a boy, and she grew particularly enthusiastic as  
she described him standing in the Nyanniichuan in his soaking wet  
tights, which were very tight indeed when wet, and stretched over  
his larger masculine body, and how manly he had reacted when  
Plum had come bouncing up.  
  
Ukyou stared up at the top of the tent, invisible in the dark. He  
wondered if it was possible to die of terminal embarrassment.  
Beside him Nodoka continued to talk in her sleep. Ukyou was  
surprised that the glow from his burning cheeks did not light up the  
tent like a lantern.  
  
******************************************************  
  
Shampoo sat in front of the evening camp fire, sharpening her  
sword with a whetstone. She was paying particular attention to the  
truncated end where the Demon Ryouko had chopped off ten inches  
during their fight. A simmering anger filled her as she tried to put  
some sort of edge on the blunt tip. She was not having much  
success at the task. The weapon was as good as ruined as a long  
sword.  
That was one of the reasons for her current feelings. The sword  
had been her mother's. She felt great shame over her poor showing  
in the fight where it had been damaged and burned to redeem her  
honor and reputation. The skepticism and derision she had met in  
her home village had wounded her deeply and had served to  
reinforce her determination to do better next time.  
When she had time she would have to rework her damaged  
weapon into a short sword, altering the pommel and blade to get the  
correct balance. There was no time for that now, and her mother's  
blade had one last task to accomplish before it was consigned to the  
blacksmith's forge: revenge on the demon who had damaged it.  
Shampoo went back to working on the tip with renewed effort.  
A flicker of movement reflected in the glistening blade caught  
Shampoo's eye, and her mood suddenly shifted. She smiled as she  
looked closer, taking care not to give herself away to the person  
who had just emerged from the bushes behind her. Hello, cousin,  
she said in a casual voice. Did the hunt go well?  
Shampoo turned and looked at her cousin Perfume. The  
attractive, muscular, brown-haired girl acknowledged Shampoo's  
greeting and question with a short nod toward several rabbits  
hanging from her belt. Shampoo grinned. It might not be obvious to  
most people, but to her Perfume's chagrin was clear to see. The  
fierce village enforcer was not use to being detected when she chose  
not to be.  
  
Born with senses a dozen times more sensitive than a normal  
human, and without the ability to dull them, a stubbed toe could  
leave Perfume curled up in a ball of misery. A scratch from a thorn  
could reduce her to tears. As a result, she had learned from an early  
age to move with great caution through the woods and was usually  
somewhat quieter then smoke.  
A fact that Perfume enjoyed using, both in her line of work as  
village enforcer, and to satisfy her rather warped sense of humor.  
Shampoo thought there was nothing the brown-haired girl enjoyed  
more than to have someone turn to find her standing inches away.  
Her role as the village enforcer only added to the pleasure as very  
few people had a truly clear conscience. It was the rare person  
indeed who did not startle seriously when they discovered Perfume  
standing beside them.  
  
The rather disgruntled Perfume tossed the rabbit carcasses in  
front of the campfire and turned to walk away, saying as she did so,  
I'm going to clean up. See if you can avoid burning the food this  
time, won't you?  
Shampoo only grinned at her cousin's retreating back, not  
even the familiar jibe from Shampoo's first disastrous attempt at  
outdoor cooking ten years before diminishing her good humor.  
Licking a finger, she made a mark in the air. One for me, she  
said. Then she bent over the three plump coneys in front of her and  
started dinner.  
  
Perfume's bad mood lasted about ten steps into the bush and  
then disappeared. She gave a soft chuckle as she thought to herself,  
'I really must talk to great-grandmother. It took Shampoo half-a-  
minute to spot me standing there. I thought I was going to have to  
snap a twig or something.' In any case, the plan had worked, and  
her absence for the next two or three hours would be but down to  
bad temper on her part.  
Great-grandmother had gone to secure their transportation to  
Japan and would not be back for at least half the night. Perfume did  
not intend to waste the opportunity that circumstance presented. She  
liked her cousin, she really did, but they were going off on what  
might be a death mission, and Perfume could think of at least one  
thing she'd much rather be doing then sitting around the fire  
listening to Shampoo gripe about that cursed boy and the stupid  
village laws that meant she had to marry the stupid fool. Because, of  
course, he must have been a fool to fall into Nyanniichuan.  
She didn't know what her cousin's problem was. Girls were  
ever so much nicer then boys, at least compared to the louts  
Perfume knew. In Perfume's opinion, Shampoo had lucked out.  
And speaking of nice girls, she'd better hurry if she was going to get  
to Lin's house before the dairy maid retired for the night.  
Perfume was something of a Don Juan when it came to the  
girls in the various villages surrounding the Amazons. In the last  
two years, since turning sixteen, she had cut a wide swath through  
all the girls in the vicinity. It was not that boys disinterested her. It  
was simply for the most part she did not want to get tied down to  
one as they were often so possessive. Then there was that sticky  
matter of children to be concerned with. Great-grandmother had  
been very graphic in describing what a pregnancy would mean to  
her with her heightened senses. It had been days before Perfume  
could even bear to be in the same room with a man. Great-  
grandmother had assured her that when the time came, steps could  
be taken to allow her to manage, but they would have to be  
implemented before the pregnancy began. To do them afterwards  
would endanger the baby. Not that Perfume cared, after her great-  
grandmother's little talk, she'd not be letting any guy get anywhere  
near that close to her. No, for her, at the moment, women were  
much more appealing and far less dangerous.  
Of course, she could have searched for companionship among  
her fellow Amazons. She had noticed one or two showing an  
interest. She might have even tried something with her cousin if not  
for the fact that Shampoo was such a stick-in-the-mud over the  
issue. However, when it came down to it, Perfume much preferred  
the company of those 'weakling' outsiders, who were so inclined, to  
that of any Amazon female.  
The warriors in her own tribe had, for the most part, despised  
her when she had been young. Labeled a coward and a crybaby,  
she'd been an object of derision to others in the village. Her life  
might have been bleak indeed if great-grandmother had not listened  
to the pleas from Perfume's mother, and taken her in to train.  
For that reason, Perfume never really bothered looking among  
her fellow Amazons for a bed partner. While she might now be an  
object of respect, and fear, she still remembered all too well the way  
those same girls had treated her back then. There were lots of  
young girls in the surrounding villages who were more than eager to  
share a bed with a warrior maid, if you knew what to look for, or in  
Perfume's case, what to smell for.  
Perfume's condition might have left her vulnerable to pain, but  
in compensation it also gifted her with heightened senses. Senses  
that were every bit as keen as any animal. Unlike others her hearing,  
and other senses were not atrophied by an overdose of evolution.  
Any Amazon could tell when she had attracted the attention of  
an interested male. It wasn't like the poor fools could hide their  
interest. Perfume could every bit as easily tell when she had  
impressed a female. As she was fond of saying, the nose knows.  
  
Perfume's rapid motion through the bush was suddenly halted  
when those self-same heightened senses picked up the presence of  
other people just ahead. It was unlikely any other human could have  
detected the whispered conversation coming from the two  
individuals ahead of her, but once she stopped moving Perfume had  
no problem making out their words, or the slight scent that marked  
them clearly as being Musk warriors.  
The Musk had been thought a dead legend, bogie men to  
frighten children, until just recently. That was when Shampoo's  
mother, Comb, had found an injured man on a high mountain trail  
and had nursed him back to health. The man had turned out to be  
the emperor of the Musk, and suddenly the Amazon's legendary  
foes were once again present in their world. Only this time as  
tentative allies. Many Amazon's looked with disfavor on this.  
Perfume was one of them. It was not so much who they were, as it  
was that the ones she met had a fondness for wearing the scent of  
various animals as some sort of macho display. To her sensitive  
sense of smell their stink was nauseating. She was always very  
careful to stay downwind when a delegation came to the village.  
These two were not that bad, but there was still that lingering  
odor of tiger and wolf to tell her that they were indeed from the  
Musk. Curious, she listened to what they were saying.  
Shhh, be quiet. You don't want Herb-sama to hear us.  
Me, you're the one making all the noise.  
Quiet! I'll be mad at you if we don't get to see Herb-sama's  
titties.  
Perfume felt a shock go through her system at the mention of  
titties. The sudden splashing noise she heard made matters very  
clear. Some poor girl was bathing, and these louts were sneaking up  
to peek and to do the gods know what else to the poor thing. All at  
once her intention to work her way around these fools vanished. 'I  
have to stop those perverts,' she thought to herself virtuously. 'It's  
the duty of every Amazon to protect those weaker than them. Of  
course,' she thought with a grin, 'if the possessor of the before  
mentioned titties were to prove grateful for Perfume's aid, it would  
be churlish of me to refuse to accept.'  
Perfume's hands crept into her bodice and came to rest on the  
hafts of her battle axes, but then she reluctantly withdrew them  
empty. Some girls were put off by the sight of blood. Better to do  
this a bit more quietly. Her left hand searched for and felt a slender  
rod in the seam of her bodice. Giving a pull, she extracted a short  
pipe, not much bigger then a drinking straw. Her other hand felt at  
her collar and grasped two decorative tufts. A gentle pull removed  
what proved to be a pair of darts. Carefully, not taking her eyes off  
the silhouettes that marked the location of her prey, she brought the  
small weapon to her lips.  
  
Lime was in difficulty. Both he and Mint were past masters of  
skulking. The monkey hunt they had recently participated in had  
heightened an already considerable talent, and that was as nothing  
when compared to what their attempts at sneaking peaks at Herb-  
sama had taught them. After all, monkeys did not fry you with Chi-  
blasts when discovering your presence.  
Both he and Mint had outdone themselves this time and were  
within inches of a view of heaven. They just had to get around this  
one last bush, and it would be clear viewing. That was where the  
trouble started. Lime had divested himself of anything that might  
make a noise or snag on a bush. All except for one thing, the  
Chiisuiton.  
Lime was under orders to not let the thin magic bucket out of  
his sight, and it was currently snagged on a branch, impeding his  
progress. Moving with exquisite care, he stood and started to free  
the bucket. At that point a bug bit him just behind the ear. His only  
reaction was a slight wince as he continued his task.  
Lime blinked his eyes as the bucket in front of him seemed to  
blur, along with the branch it was snagged on. He raised a hand to  
his face to wipe away the blurriness, but to no avail. Lime turned to  
ask Mint for assistance, only to find his partner was sprawled out on  
the ground. His legs started to get weak, and he was finding it  
harder and harder to keep his balance. All his attention focused on  
the bucket. The only thing he could think of was how important that  
it not make a noise and reveal their presence to Herb-sama.  
Here, let me take that for you. Lime tried to thank the boy  
with the long brown hair who took the Chiisuiton from his numb  
hands, but he was unable to make his mouth work. His eyes traveled  
down the form of the boy as he sank to his knees. The last thought  
to cross his mind before the lights went out was that this boy had  
titties even bigger then Herb-sama's.  
  
Herb, prince, currently princess, of the Musk, was nervous.  
Not that she would ever admit to that condition. She was currently  
taking her first bath as a female without a chaperone. She had never  
realized how much hassle the presence of the Jusenkyo guide had  
spared her. With him nearby to give a warning if Lime and Mint  
took it into their heads to 'guard' her, she had always had complete  
privacy, or nearly so. Now, alone except for her two companions,  
she found herself starting at each and every sound.  
She was torn between bathing facing the shore, or away from  
it. Facing, she had a better opportunity of spotting the two perverts,  
but if she should fail to spot them, she would also present them with  
that which they most desired, an unrestricted view of her chest.  
Turning her back to the shore would deny them that, but make it  
less likely she would spot them. She finally decided on facing the  
shore, trusting in her ability to spot them before they got too big a  
peek. She focused all her attention on the shore while she hastened  
to wash her long white and green stripped hair as quickly as she  
could. This led to problems.  
The heavy lather she was working up slipped down her face  
and into her wide spread eyes. Eyes she had been afraid to shut for  
fear of missing a tell tale sign that would indicate the presence of  
peepers.  
Exclaiming in pain. Herb tried to rub the soap out of her  
stinging eyes. This only worsening her condition as all she  
succeeded in doing was shoving more irritant into her eyes.  
Here, sweet one. Let me help you.  
Herb stiffened in shock, a small ki ball forming in her hand.  
Only the belated realization that the speaker was female saved  
whoever it was from becoming crispy fried. She allowed the ball of  
energy to dissipate as water sluiced over her head. The process was  
repeated several times, until the stinging in her eyes subsided.  
Holding up a hand to forestall any more rinsing, Herb blinked  
her eyes to clear the last of her blurred vision. A vision swam into  
sight, a brown-haired girl with a smile on her face and wearing  
nothing else. Herb's lightning quick mind realized the girl was  
naked. That meant if she looked down, she would be able to see the  
other girl's titties. Herb looked down.  
  
Perfume frowned at the slight-bodied girl in front of her.  
Everything had been going just fine, and then the girl had  
completely zoned out, her large, slanting green eyes glazing over.  
Perfume waved a hand in front of the glazed eyes of the other girl.  
Hello? You there? Anyone home? Nothing. The girl merely  
continued to stare blankly at Perfume, or more specifically, at  
Perfume's chest.  
Perfume was starting to wonder if the girl was mentally  
defective, when she finally moved. A hand slowly came up, and  
tremulously reached forward. Perfume stifled an urge to back away  
and allowed the exotic looking girl to touch her. A soft hand,  
slightly chilled from the river water, touched, and then caressed,  
Perfume's breast.  
Titties, The girl said, in an breathy, worshipful tone of  
voice.  
Perfume felt a familiar heat rising in her loins and decided that  
it would be most impolite not to reciprocate this strange girl's  
welcome. Subsequently, she reached forward herself and stroked  
the other girl's breasts with both hands, saying, Titties. She then  
added under her breath, And very nice ones indeed.  
Perfume's touch seemed to break the girl out of her stupor.  
She jerked her head up to stare into the slightly taller girl's eyes.  
Perfume was happy to see a fierce intelligence now burning in the  
slanted green eyes staring into her own. The dull glaze that had  
filled them was no longer present.  
While Perfume was glad to see the pretty girl was not a lack-  
wit, that did not mean she was going to let her use that brain. Before  
the other girl could react, Perfume's right hand relinquished her  
hold on the girl's firm, succulent breast. Perfume's arm slipped  
down and around the girl's slim waist. She pulled the other girl in  
close, and taking advantage of her upturned face, lowered her head  
slightly, and captured the girl's dainty lips with her own.  
For a second the girl struggled in her arms, but as Perfume's  
experienced hands, and lips, had their way with her, she slowly  
relaxed and to Perfume's immense satisfaction, began to tentatively  
return Perfume's attentions with some of her own.  
Perfume stood in the water, drinking in the lips of the girl in  
her embrace, till finally the need for a slightly dryer, and warmer,  
location could no longer be ignored. She swung the girl up in both  
her arms, cradling her against her substantial chest. The girl's  
murmured protest ended when she found her face pressed up against  
one of Perfume's generous brown-tipped mounds. Her eyes glazed  
over once again, and with a happy sigh, she lay her head against its  
warm softness.  
Perfume looked down at the exotic girl in her arms. Her  
pointed ears, large slanted eyes, and long silky, green and white hair  
that was currently falling down over Perfume's left arm, came  
together to make a most fetching picture. 'Oh yes, this was going to  
be 'fun', Perfume thought, as she carried the girl out of the river.  
  
******************************************************  
  
Shampoo looked up some two hours later as Perfume  
sauntered into the campsite, a happy cat-eating-the-canary  
expression on her face. Shampoo had seen Perfume returning from  
enough late-night rendevous to have no difficulty discerning the  
reason for Perfume's self-satisfied expression. Holding out some  
cold skewers of rabbit meat to her cousin, she said, I see your  
hunting went well again. You're such a pervert, Perfume. Couldn't  
you go even one night without?  
What's the matter, cousin? Jealous?, Perfume asked with a  
laugh, taking a healthy bite from the skewer in her hand.  
Of you? Hardly, but we are on our way to face a battle out of  
legends. I would have thought even you would have the sense to  
focus on that, instead of indulging your perverted desires. Despite  
the harshness of Shampoo's words, they were spoken with a tone of  
humor. This was old territory for the two cousins, who had long ago  
agreed to disagree on their respective attitudes toward romance.  
Therefore, Perfume merely grinned at Shampoo, and said,  
And I, cousin, would have thought that even you would be able to  
see the need to reaffirm life at least once, when we may face the  
final sleep so very soon.  
And I would have thought you two young fools would have  
seen the value of getting some sleep while you had the chance.  
Both Perfume and Shampoo turned to see their great-grandmother  
looking at them, a testy expression on her face. Seeing she had their  
attention, she continued, Break camp. We're going now. The plane  
leaves in two hours.  
  
  
******************************************************  
  
Herb-chan sighed and rolled over on her back, letting the early  
morning sun wash over her nude body. She felt _ wonderful _ .  
Better than she could ever remember feeling in her life. Perfume-  
chan, that was the most wonderful thing. Herb's voice took on a  
sly tone, and she turned to her left. Can we do it . . .? She trailed  
off when she discovered the space next to her was vacant.  
Perfume-chan? she called out. Then again with more intensity.  
Perfume-chan!? Herb rolled to her feet and frantically looked  
around the campsite for her companion of the night before, but  
there was no one present.  
An ache started to form in her chest, but she fought it down.  
Perfume-chan had likely only gone down to the river to bathe. That  
was it, nothing unusual in that. Herb smiled. She'd just sneak on  
down there and join her.  
  
Perfume-chan!!! Herb yelled with great enthusiasm as she  
jumped through the bushes into the river, causing a great splash of  
water. She wiped her eyes and looked around. Her spirit fell as she  
saw she was alone, only to rise when she heard a crashing in the  
bush behind her.  
Turning with an expression of joy on her face, Herb's spirits  
plummeted once more when Lime burst from the brush and into the  
stream. Herb-sama are you alright . . . Lime's voice trailed off as  
he took in Herb's unclothed status. His eyes glazed over and drool  
started to drop from his mouth as he focused on her bare chest.  
Herb glared at the massive boy in disgust. A ball of chi formed  
in her hand, and a second later blew the tiger-skin clad boy back  
through the bushes he had emerged from. Drawing as much of her  
dignity as she could around her in place of the clothes she lacked,  
she stalked back to camp, not even pausing as she fired a chi bolt  
straight up. A second later Mint came crashing to the ground, the  
tree branch Herb had severed landing on his head.  
Herb reached their camp and placed a kettle on the remaining  
coals from the fire the night before. She'd get no help from those  
two idiots as long as she was female. And disgusting as it was, she  
needed their help. She had to find Perfume-chan. The lovely  
Amazon might be in trouble and need rescuing. Herb slipped into a  
daydream while she waited for the kettle to boil. A dream in which  
she, in her male form, rescued the lovely maiden from her peril, and  
was suitably rewarded. Her face took on an expression quite  
remarkable in its resemblance to the one Lime had worn only  
minutes before.  
Soon, though it seemed like hours to Herb, the kettle of water  
heated to the correct temperature, and Herb poured the water over  
her head. Shaking the water out of her hair, she walked over to her  
clothes, only to pause when it finally registered that she was still  
female. Looking down at herself in stunned shock, her mind froze  
up. For a second she could not think, then, frantically, she refilled  
the kettle and placed it back on the coals, this time adding fuel to  
the fire. Obviously, she had not let the water get hot enough.  
Herb let the kettle come to a full boil this time. She gasped in  
pain when she poured the hot water over her head. It was no good,  
two very attractive and feminine breasts still decorated her chest.  
Now thoroughly panicked, Herb cast around the camp frantically.  
When Mint and Lime emerged from the bushes, she screamed at  
them. Where is it!? Where is the Chiisuiton!? She got no answer  
from the drooling boys, who only stared at her naked form. Almost  
screaming in frustration, Herb searched the camp, tearing it to  
pieces in her frantic search for the magic ladle. For once, she was  
completely oblivious to the imbecilic state of her peeping  
companions.  
Two hours later, Herb finally had to admit defeat, the  
Chiisuiton was no where to be found. How was that possible? It had  
to be here. One of them always carried it with them. They never left  
it behind. They were here, so where was it? A sudden sensation of  
dread filled Herb-chan's mind. There had been one other person  
here last night. No! She refused to believe that! Perfume-chan  
would never do that to her. There was peace between the Musk and  
the Amazons at the moment. There was no reason for her to do such  
a thing. Was there? A sudden memory filled Herb's mind. A wash  
of water rinsing soap from her eyes.  
With a dull ache in her stomach Herb raced back to the stream.  
This time she looked carefully at the stream bank, and felt her gorge  
rise in her throat as she spied the missing Chiisuiton laying on it's  
side. No. Herb said in a weak voice, picking up the narrow  
bucket and clutching it to her stomach. She staggered back to camp  
muttering over and over to himself. No, no, no, no ,no . . . She  
reached camp and fell to her knees, still clutching the bucket. Tears  
rolled down her face. It couldn't be. Not Perfume-chan. She  
wouldn't do this to me.  
A cough behind her broke her out of her grief, and she turned  
her tear stained face toward her two companions. Both Lime and  
Mint were standing there, their gaze directed upward. Herb felt a  
sudden burst of affection for the two clods. They were fools, but  
they were trying their best. In her time of need they suppressed their  
desire to peak to offer her solace. You may speak, Herb said in a  
hoarse voice.  
The two men exchanged looks, clearly wanting the other to  
speak for both of them. After a bit of subtle body language,  
involving elbows and ribs, Lime was selected spokesman. Herb-  
sama," he said, while painfully rubbing his side and glaring at Mint.  
"I . . . I mean, we, wish to talk to you about that boy with the titties  
last night.  
The nausea in Herb's stomach increased, but she needed to  
face the truth. She nodded, and said, Go ahead.  
Mint and Lime once again exchanged looks, Mint glared, and  
Lime backed out of elbow range, and said, We don't think it's fair  
that you let a stranger touch your titties when you won't let us do  
it. Mint nodded vigorously in agreement.  
  
The explosion was most impressive.  
  
Two charcoal colored figures staggered down the road. The  
smaller of the two spoke in an aggrieved tone of voice. I still say  
it's unfair. We've known Herb-sama since he hatched -- oof! He  
was cut off when his companion elbowed him in the side and  
shushed him, all the while looking around frantically.  
You know we're not suppose to ever mention that, Mint, he  
said in a very worried tone of voice.  
"So what? Who cares? Besides, there is no one around to  
hear us. Despite his words of bravado, Mint was looking around  
himself. His expression might have been worried, but it was hard to  
tell considering his face was as black as the rest of him. I still think  
Herb-sama should have let us touch his titties. If I had titties, I'd let  
him touch them.  
Lime, who had continued to look for possible witnesses,  
nodded his head in agreement. He was about to offer a 'me too,'  
when a thought plowed through his rather dense mind, bringing all  
other activity up there to an abrupt halt. You mean if you had  
titties, you'd let me touch them?  
Of course. You're my best friend," Mint added in an  
aggrieved tone, "Unlike some people, I don't forget who my friends  
are. Mint paused as he noticed Lime was not moving. The larger  
boy was frozen in place, rivulets of sweat washing the char from his  
face, which was screwed up in intense effort to follow a certain idea  
through to its conclusion. Are you alright, Lime? Mint asked.  
Lime jerked and broke out of his frozen posture. He looked  
down at his friend, and said, Say, Mint, why don't we wait back at  
Jusenkyo for Herb-sama to cool off?  
Mint looked startled at the question. The idea of leaving Herb-  
sama was strange to him. He and Lime had been with the prince  
since, as he had said, Herb had been hatched. Giving him a little  
distance to cool down, that was one thing, going off so far . . .  
Mint's face hardened as he remembered Herb-sama's reaction  
to a simple and justified grievance. 'Why not,' he thought. 'It would  
serve Herb-sama right. Maybe he would be nicer to them if he had  
to get by on his own for a while.' Mint nodded in agreement to  
Lime's suggestion. Without a backward look, he started out for  
Jusenkyo. Lime followed after him eagerly, a peculiar look in his  
eyes as he looked at Mint from behind. Almost as if he was seeing  
the other boy for the very first time.  
  
Back at the campsite Mint and Lime had so precipitously  
departed, a brilliant, pulsating ball of energy filled the area formerly  
occupied by Herb. The surrounding area was a shambles. What was  
left of the camping gear was a charred ruin, while nearby trees had  
either been reduced to splinters or, in the case of the larger ones,  
charred and uprooted.  
Inside the ball of energy, Princess Herb, former heir to the  
empire of the Musk, raged. Trapped as a female, she had lost  
whatever status her curse would have left her. She saw it all now.  
The Amazons had planned this. Her father was infatuated with that  
Amazon healer. He would marry her, and their child would be the  
new ruler of the Musk, while Herb would spend the rest of her life  
in the woman's quarters, first her father's, and then those of  
whatever man he choose for her Husband. Herb's anger kept her  
from considering the unlikelihood of the scenario she imagined. She  
was a person scorned and betrayed, and logic had nothing to do with  
her current thought processes.  
Herb's rage continued to grow as she imagined the treacherous  
female laughing as she told her friends of how easily she had duped  
the foolish prince of the Musk. Her body began to glow, then as  
Herb's anger continued to grow, to twist and change. Herb payed  
no mind to the transformation her body was going through. Only  
one thought filled her mind, and she screamed it to the heavens,  
even as her physical form vanished as the glow from her body  
blocked out any possible observation.  
PERFUME, YOU WILL PAY!!!!  
  
***************************************************  
  
"Ahchoooo!" Perfume sneezed powerfully in her seat beside  
Shampoo. She quickly rubbed her nose in embarrassment and  
carried on the conversation she'd been having with Shampoo before  
her sneeze. Raising her voice to be heard over the clatter of the  
ancient single engine, she said, I still don't get it. Why are you so  
against giving this Ranma-girl the kiss of marriage? Is she ugly?  
What has that got to do with anything? She's a girl! Not all of  
us are as indiscriminate as you, cousin. I'd prefer my 'husband' to  
have all the necessary parts. If what the guide told great-  
grandmother is correct, Ranma is frozen in her girl form.  
Perfume shrugged her shoulders. And your point is? I don't  
know why you're so hung up on boys, Shampoo. What can they  
offer that a nice girl can't? Besides that, Perfume added hastily,  
when Shampoo looked at her incredulously, believe me, cousin,  
that's highly overrated.  
"Oh, and just how would you know that? I remember that once  
upon a time you wouldn't let a boy get within twenty feet of you.  
You even broke poor Soap's arm when he came up behind you by  
surprise that one time.  
Perfume blushed at the memory and hastened to offer excuses.  
Well, that was right after great-grandmother's little explanation of  
the facts of life and how it applies to me. You know I can't handle  
pain, Perfume said with complete frankness, easily confessing her  
disability to Shampoo, something she would do with no other  
person in the world. By the time great-grandmother was done, I  
was sure that I'd die in agony if I let a boy so much as kiss me.  
And now? Shampoo asked in genuine curiosity.  
Let's just say that Lore-master Lotion explained some things  
to me, like birth control. So, if I ever see a boy that has half a brain,  
and who has no aversion to soap and water, I 'might' give him a  
tumble. For now, however, I still think girls are a whole lot more  
fun.  
Shampoo only snorted in scepticism and asked, And tell me,  
did the Lore-master tell you this before or after you seduced her  
great-granddaughter?  
Perfume suddenly looked uncertain. After a minute of thought,  
she said thoughtfully, After, I think. Her eye's suddenly  
widened, and she said, You don't think . . .?  
Shampoo smirked at her, and said, I wouldn't know, but you  
might want to run those birth-control ideas past great-grandmother  
before you try out any likely boys. Happy to have notched up  
another coup on Perfume, Shampoo went back to reading the  
twenty year old magazine she'd found tucked in the pouch in the  
back of the seat in front of her.  
Perfume stayed silent, her furrowed brow evidence of her deep  
thought. Lotion had been a bit vague when she'd explained that  
lemon with sugar and water was a powerful contraceptive.  
  
*************************************************  
M.I.B. Headquarters, New York, New York.  
  
Agent J made his way with great care through the many back  
halls and passages that made M.I.B. headquarters such a warren. He  
was dressed in his usual black on black suit, but was wearing a new  
addition to his wardrobe. The top of his head was covered by an  
oversized red toque. It was so oversized in fact, that he verged on  
the need to cut eye holes in the thing, which would have given him  
far more of a resemblance to a Bill Cosby character than his already  
damaged dignity could handle.  
J's face clearly showed the strain he was under as he checked  
each doorway and cross passage with the utmost of care. It was vital  
he leave headquarters without being seen, by a single soul. Only a  
few more feet and he'd make it. "I am so smooth," he purred to  
himself in self-satisfaction.  
At that moment, a soft, feminine voice said behind him,"There  
you are, J, Z wants to see us."  
"Aaaahhhhhh!!," J cried in surprise, nearly leaping out of his  
skin in surprise. "Don't do that, L!" he cried, turning to face the  
person who had addressed him.  
The icy blond who was facing him merely cocked an amused  
eyebrow. She fixed a curious gaze on the outlandish piece of  
headgear J was currently sporting. "An interesting fashion  
statement, but not within the dress code. Or are you planning on  
trying out for this year's Santa?"  
"Oh ha ha, very funny. As it happens I was just . . . ah." J's  
normally agile mind froze up as he tried to think up some logical  
reason he would be wearing a large red stocking hat in the middle of  
M.I.B. headquarters.  
"No time. Like I said, Z wants to see us, and right away," L  
said. She grasped the sleeve of J's jacket and took off down the hall  
at a brisk walk, dragging J behind her. Her path took them right  
through the middle of the main concourse. J's face darkened at the  
many comments on his new apparel that rose from all sides as he  
was dragged through the busy alien arrival terminal.  
If anything, J's complexion became even darker when they  
finally reached Z's office, and he found himself suddenly under the  
exacting scrutiny of not only Z, but his own partner K.  
Z glowered at him, and said, "Care to explain, rookie?" But  
before J could even start to explain himself, Z continued, "No, don't  
bother. We have trouble. Take that silly thing off and sit down."  
J hesitated for a second, but then giving into the inevitable,  
reached up and took off the large red hat. Long tangled cords of  
black hair fell around his shoulders and down his back. Everyone in  
the room stared in surprise at the matted hair that covered the top of  
J's normally well groomed head. Looking sheepish, J started to  
explain. "You see, I thought if I used a Rigelian healing machine, I  
could sort of make that chunk of hair the crystal shaved off grow  
back a bit quicker, and . . ." He trailed off and gestured helplessly at  
his head.  
Z glowered at him for a second, and then waved off any  
further explanation. "People, we have a problem. In the last week  
we've had several incidents in the orient. As you know, we stream  
all official immigrants and travelers through the base here. This  
allows us a level of control we could not manage if we let them  
arrive wherever they wanted. This also means that if not all, the  
majority of illegal incidents also occur in North America."  
"Because even illegals need a support structure of some kind,  
such as Jeeter's pawn shop," L said in a contemplative tone.  
"Exactly. By restricting almost all of the legal immigrants to  
this continent, we manage to concentrate most illegal alien activity  
here as well."  
"So what about little Miss Destructo and the flying chicky who  
trashed Japan last week?" J asked.  
"That is one of the incidents I was referring to," Z said, while  
delivering a quelling glance J's way. "It and several other incidents  
are outside the normal framework we work with. Which is why I've  
called you all here. You three are going to set up a temporary M.I.B.  
operation as near as we can safely get to the non-interference area,  
and monitor the situation."  
"Yo, that's bogus! Why don't we just go in and kick some  
alien booty."  
"Can't, Slick," K said.  
"Why not?" L asked, when it was apparent K was not going to  
say anything more.  
"No, let me guess," J said. "Need-to-know, right?"  
"You got it kid."  
"Oh man, that is so --"  
"The way it is," Z broke in. "K is fully cognizant of the  
reasons. He will be in charge. Listen to him 'and' obey him." K  
delivered a speaking look in J's direction, leaving no doubt as to  
who he was directing his last remark at.  
Turning to K, Z gave his final instructions. "K, I want you and  
Junior to visit your old friend, G. Seems he had an unexpected  
visitor the other day. The cleanup crew is leaving in an hour. You, J  
and the L.T.D. can hitch a ride with them. Once you talk to him,  
you can head over to Japan." Z then turned and spoke to L, "You  
will head directly for Japan. We've made arrangements for you to  
work as an English teacher. You'll start work at the school attended  
by our one client in Japan. She's been getting a bit out of hand  
lately, boyfriend trouble I hear, and needs a bit of settling down.  
We've rented a large house for you to set up in. It was built over the  
entrance to a large World War II bunker. The plans of which have  
gone missing from the local zoning office. There's a crew working  
on it right now, moving in everything you'll need. K and J will join  
you when they are done in China."  
Z looked at all three of them, grunting as his eyes passed over  
J in a god-I-hope-I'm-doing-the-right-thing way, then he snapped  
out. "That's all people. Move out."  
  
And yet another chapter comes to a close.  
  
Next chapter, we rejoin Tenchi and Ranma as they and the girls take  
a relaxing trip to a hot spring.  
  
After that. What ever happened to poor Ryouga, and will he  
ever find his way back to earth, and to the cute little red-head who  
was so kind to him that one time. Tune into chapter two of Ryouga  
Hibiki, Lost In Space, to find out.  
  
  
Think I'm taking too long to come out with chapters.  
Be sure to drop me a line and let me know. Nothing motivates me,  
and I'm sure other authors, so much as having readers writing up to  
tell me how much you enjoyed the story, and to get off the stick and  
write more.^_^  
  
The Hungry Tiger.  
  
  



	8. Default Chapter Title

Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?  
Chapter ten.  
Hot springs and fire balls  
  
  
A fan fiction based on the works of Rumiko Takahashi,  
creator of Ranma 1/2, and, Masaki Kajishima, who I've been  
told is the creator of Tenchi Muyo.  
Hitoshi Okuda, is the artist and creator of the Tenchi Manga.  
  
Garaga and Jiras are characters I lifted from 'Slayers Try'  
  
I have no rights to these characters. Which should come as no  
surprise to anyone.  
  
  
  
What's going on?  
This is an alternative universe story.  
Ranma was trapped as a girl from her first dip in the  
Nanniichuan.  
  
Why? Read the earlier chapters of Tenchi and Ranma,  
Together Forever!?. See below for some highlights.  
  
Princess Ayeka has declared that Ranma is far too young to  
marry Tenchi, and that any talk of a wedding will have to wait for at  
least two years. Ranma, as you might expect, is just heartbroken  
over this.^_^  
  
Yea, right. Ranma is feeling a whole lot better. She is sure she  
can regain her boy side within two years, and as everyone knows,  
boys can't marry boys.  
  
Big thanks to all the people who contributed C+C to this, their  
help has been greatly appreciated. It is unlikely the story would be  
anywhere near as good as it is without their efforts. How good it is  
now I'll leave up to you.^_^  
  
  
You can find all of TARTF at,  
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/, or use  
the direct link  
http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/fanfic.html  
I'd use the first one myself if you are not already familiar with  
Phoenix's work. He has some great stories at his site.  
  
T.H. Tiger  
schell@interlog.com  
  
Three months ago:  
  
The human brain is a wondrous thing, but, despite all it's  
abilities, it has limitations. You only have to throw a ball to a young  
child and watch it bounce off their chest before their arms move to  
know this. The child may want to catch the pretty ball with all of  
his, or her, might, but by the time the brain sees the ball, via the  
ocular nerves, decides that it wants the ball, and sends instructions  
to all the individual muscles needed to lift the arms and grasp the  
ball with the hands, it is too late. The child has a sore chest, and  
tears in his or her eyes.  
This is because the enormous number of instructions necessary  
to perform even the most mundane of tasks takes time. Time the  
individual often does not have. This is why nature created sub-  
brains in the form of neural clusters and muscular memory. Once  
these 'idiot' systems have been programed, the brain only needs to  
send the most minute of signals to the respective group and the  
action is performed.  
The epitome of this function can be seen in a superbly trained  
martial artist, who will often parry a blow before she is consciously  
aware of the threat.  
The creators of AI systems, i.e., artificial intelligence, adapted  
this system for their own use.  
In order to shrink the operative intelligence into a small  
enough package to make them practical, they made use of the  
subsidiary systems often present in the object the A.I. would be  
commanding, be it a farm tractor . . . or a Galaxy Police patrol ship.  
Any repetitive function would be delegated to an idiot circuit.  
The operative intelligence merely needs to send a simple signal to  
initiate the action. These actions can vary from the incredibly  
complex, such as computing a space jump, to the incredibly  
mundane, such as making sure the seat is left down. Any action that  
is done with frequency ends up being relegated to a sub unit.  
The intelligence in charge of the Galaxy Police patrol ship,  
Yukinojo, initiated such a program, and caused an action that was  
very repetitive indeed:  
  
"Mihoshi, I don't think this is a good idea."  
  
Mihoshi and Yukinojo had spent the last six days chasing a  
particulary elusive pirate. Or rather, Yukinojo had been chasing  
him. Mihoshi had spent the six days holed up in her cabin watching  
slides of her and Kiyone's last vacation.  
  
The chase had led, as might have been expected in this district,  
to Fractal, or as it was otherwise known, that, $#(#)&%, place.  
  
With the singular exception of pirates, not too many entities  
were fond of Fractal.  
  
Fractal was a very young system as such things are measured.  
It had been created when two close passing super-giants had drawn  
a significant amount of mass from each other, indeed, both stars had  
barely survived the encounter, and left a residue behind when they  
escaped each other's gravitational fields. The matter left behind  
had, over the course of time, cooled and congregated into a mass  
sufficient to achieve ignition, and a new sun was formed. Smaller  
pockets formed into planetoids and various other stellar debris.  
Unlike most systems, Fractal was gifted with so much matter  
that attempts to form larger masses, and eventually planets, for a  
very long time came to naught. This was due to Fractal's most  
unique feature. The matter that had formed Fractal had come from  
two discreet sources, and they had been drawn together in counter-  
rotating spirals. The result was that fifty-percent of Fractal's matter  
rotated in one direction, fifty-percent in the other. Frequent high  
speed collisions prevented any one object from attaining size and  
stability. It was only in the last quarter billion years that Fractal had  
stabilized to the point where it could begin the next step in it's  
evolution as a solar system.  
For now, however, Fractal had the distinction of being the  
most cluttered solar system in the known galaxy. It was almost  
impossible to navigate in, and any craft larger than a three-man ore  
tug would find itself reduced to scrap within a very short time. Not  
surprisingly, it had become a haven for the local pirates, whose  
small ships could maneuver, if slowly, through the junk pile that  
was Fractal. They were assisted by crude maps, which were not that  
accurate or reliable, but good enough so that a small, slow, ship,  
make its way with relative safety.  
  
Around the outskirts of the system were numerous small  
mining operations, many of them subsidiaries of larger  
conglomerates. They did not conduct mining operations themselves,  
but instead purchased scavenged material from the independent  
prospectors who were the only true inhabitants of Fractal. The  
trading posts were also the main source for navigational data, for  
which they charged a fairly substantial sum.  
  
But then the selling of treasure maps has always been a  
profitable occupation.  
  
There were enough valuable minerals in the asteroid cloud to  
make it worthwhile for the small independents to sift through the  
rubble. Their finds were eagerly purchased by the legitimate  
businesses that acted as trading posts for the numerous beings who,  
for one reason or another, had found it expeditious to relocate to  
Fractal's rather less then law-abiding frontier.  
And if the materials the prospectors sometimes brought in  
were other then minerals, it was not that great a surprise. After all,  
numerous ships had come to grief inside Fractal over the  
generations. If a lone prospector was lucky enough to stumble  
across a wreck containing high quality trade goods, well . . . who  
were the trading posts' proprietors to question the gentle-being's  
good luck.  
  
As might be expected, Fractal's various neighbors were not so  
sanguine about these 'lucky' finds, but as numerous attempted  
reprisals had proven over the years, attempting to clean up Fractal  
was more trouble than it was worth.  
Most sensible police officers made the best effort they could to  
catch fleeing felons before they reached Fractal, but if they lost the  
race, they generally had enough sense to give up the chase and go  
pursue prey in an area of space that was more likely to leave them  
in one piece. Which they did, after adding a few more epithets to  
Fractal's alternative name.  
  
Mihoshi's evaluation sheets listed her as hyper-intuitive, gifted  
with superb reflexes, honest, trustworthy, loyal, and of high ethical  
character. Sensibility was conspicuous by it's absence.  
  
Yukinojo repeated himself as Mihoshi eased the throttle  
forward. "Mihoshi, I must reiterate. I do not think this a prudent  
course of action. I'm too large to navigate inside Fractal's system."  
Mihoshi frowned, and said, "But, Yukinojo, you said the  
shuttle lacked the fire-power to apprehend the pirates. How can we  
arrest them if we don't take the ship in?"  
"Policy in these cases is that we break off the chase, and send  
a description of the miscreant to Galaxy Police headquarters and the  
local law enforcement agencies. They will list him as wanted, and if  
he is spotted, he will be arrested."  
"Break off the chase!?" Mihoshi exclaimed in shock. "You  
mean let him go? We can't do that! Kiyone would never have let a  
criminal escape her like that."  
"Well, actually . . ." Yukinojo started to say, meaning to argue  
that Kiyone would have done exactly that.  
  
Yukinojo had approved very highly of Kiyone. She had felt  
almost as strongly about scratches on his body as he did. He was  
sure that in a case like this, she'd have been quite eager to follow  
policy. Especially as the felon they were chasing had not actually  
succeeded in robbing anyone. They had interrupted him in the  
process, and he had fled without the loot.  
  
Mihoshi gave him no time to say any of these things. She  
stared into the view screen, taking in the cluttered space in front of  
them, but not really seeing it, tears running down her cheeks.  
"Kiyone would never have given up. In memory of Kiyone, we will  
arrest this criminal." Mihoshi firmed her small chin, which was  
quivering a little, and wiped the tears from her face with a forearm.  
"For Kiyone," she whispered, and jammed the throttle full on.  
  
Captain Garaga was feeling very pleased with himself. He'd  
pushed his ship to the limit and had managed to escape from the  
Galaxy Patrol police ship that had been pursuing him relentlessly  
for the past several days. As the homey comfort of Fractal's asteroid  
field surrounded him, he leaned his massive reptilian body back in  
his command chair. His thick, scaly tail, which projected out  
through a hole in the back of the chair, twitched in contentment.  
He laughed, leaning his head back. His dark artificial eye  
gleaming in the glow from the overhead lights, Garaga turned to his  
weapons officer/co-pilot/kitchen help, and general all around jack-  
of-all-trades, master-of-very-few, Jiras. "We showed them, eh,  
Jiras? I bet that flat-bottom is cursing us to hell right about now."  
The small, red-furred, fox-like humanoid alien sitting next to  
Captain Garaga chuckled as well. "We sure did, boss." Jiras turned  
his eyes toward the rear scanner's screen, intending to savor the  
image of the frustrated patrol ship hovering just outside the asteroid  
field. What he saw, caused his eyes to bulge. "What the hell?" he  
cried out in shock, hands flying to the controls in front of him.  
Garaga's relaxed pose disappeared at Jiras's action. He too  
looked at the rearward scanner screen. Like Jiras, his one good eye  
bulged as he witnessed the patrol vessel powering at what had to be  
full throttle down their back trail.  
"That's crazy!" Garaga exclaimed, his light-green hide turning  
darker in shock. "They can't last a minute at that speed! What the  
hell are they doing!?"  
As if in answer, the main communication screen in front of  
them came to life, showing a light-colored mammalian female,  
complete with those unsightly lumps on her chest that distinguished  
the females from the males of her species.  
Jiras, being a member of a mammalian species himself, was  
usually much more appreciative of those unsightly lumps. In this  
case, however, the lumps were attached to a cop, which was about  
as alien as you could get in Jiras's mind, so his attention did not  
waver from his controls.  
Well, maybe just a little. It had been a very long time between  
ports.  
  
"Attention, pirate vessel! This is Galaxy Police Detective  
First-class, Mihoshi. Surrender now!"  
"You're nuts!!!" Garaga screamed at the screen, as Jiras's  
frantic piloting brought them within a lizard's scale of an asteroid  
three times their own size. "You're going to get us all killed. Get  
that whale the hell out of here before you cause a chain reaction."  
On the screen Mihoshi scowled. "Never! In Kiyone's memory,  
I will bring you to justice."  
"Kiyone!? Who the hell is Kiyone!? Do you know a Kiyone,  
Jiras?"  
"No boss."  
"Kiyone was the finest person who ever lived. She'd never let  
criminals like you escape. In her memory I will punish you.  
Surrender now, or. . . or . . ." Mihoshi turned to a small AI interface  
that was hanging behind her, and asked. "Yukinojo? What will we  
do if they won't stop?"  
"Under normal circumstances, we'd use a tractor beam to hold  
them, but --"  
"Oh, yes, the tractor beam," Mihoshi said, cutting Yukinojo  
off before he could finish his statement.  
Mihoshi engaged the ship's main tractor beam, and locked the  
sights on the fleeing ship in front of her. The automatic tracking  
function took over from there.  
  
"Mihoshi, I don't think this is a good idea."  
  
Yukinojo's words were barely out before they proved  
prophetic. An asteroid of moderate size moved into the space  
between Yukinojo and the fleeing pirates. The tractor beam latched  
on to its high metal count, and caused it to shift trajectory, right into  
a small cluster of similar sized asteroids.  
Like a cue ball in a game of pool, it caused them to scatter in  
all directions. Each one, by the most extraordinary of coincidences,  
heading toward a similar cluster.  
  
On board the pirate ship, Garaga and Jiras swore as their  
mapped-out route to base camp disappeared in a flurry of multi-ton  
rocks.  
While maps of Fractal's asteroid fields were, by their very  
natures, temporary, they were accurate enough in the short term to  
allow small ships to navigate with some margin of safety. Garaga's  
ship had just lost that safety margin.  
"She's nut's!" Jiras screamed. He frantically worked his  
thrusters to avoid three different asteroids which were all heading  
toward their ship. He dodged them, but the ship was still rattled by  
the shrapnel when the three massive blocks of stone collided with  
each other.  
  
On board Yukinojo, Mihoshi was in much the same fix as the  
pirates. She was better armed, however. Her fingers danced over  
Yukinojo's fire control panel, seemingly in panic, but every blast  
destroyed or deflected a threatening asteroid, and allowed them to  
continue in their pursuit of the penny-ante criminals they had  
chased so far.  
On one of the small scanner screens in front of Mihoshi, a  
small, white, triangular representation of Yukinojo moved through a  
field of massive tumbling boulders, which shattered into smaller,  
and smaller, chunks under Mihoshi's bombardment.  
  
Jiras and Garaga were being tossed around their ship like  
characters in a sci-fi tv show, the integrity of their hull steadily  
diminishing. Already the sound that haunted ever spacers'  
nightmares, the whistle of escaping air, was echoing through the  
cabin.  
"We got to get into our suits, boss!" Jiras cried out in panic,  
pulling said garments from the locker where they were kept. He  
pulled his suit on in frantic haste, only to find it fit like a tent. Next  
to him, Garaga was trying to shove his leg into a pair of pants that  
were about twenty sizes too small for him.  
Recovering enough from his panic to notice the reason for his  
difficulty, Garaga jerked the suit Jiras was wearing into the air, and  
dumped the small red-fox out onto the cabin floor.  
The two pirates managed to get their respective suits on just in  
time. As Jiras closed the last seal on his suit, the integrity fields that  
had been holding the hull together failed, and they found  
themselves floating in space, surrounded by the remains of their  
ship, and with several large asteroids bearing down on them. Jiras  
was suddenly very sorry he'd skipped the sanitary hookups in his  
hurry to get the suit on.  
  
Yukinojo used his tractor beams to pull the pirates out of the  
path of the asteroids that were threatening to turn them into pate.  
His task was made easier due to the fact that they had apparently  
fainted. He deposited the two comatose villains in the holding cells  
and activated the stasis function. Confident that there was nothing  
further to fear from them, he turned his attention back to the real  
threat to his present and future well being.  
The A.I.'s fabricated personality was not really capable of  
pique. Despite that, something very similar to that emotion was  
flowing through his circuits as he observed Mihoshi at the firing  
controls. All mathematical solutions to their current situation  
showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that their chances of survival in  
this situation were . . . nil.  
Mihoshi was not very good at math. She was very good at  
shooting. Despite the frantic way she was handling the controls, and  
the many shouts of, "Oh no, go away, don't come any closer," and  
the always popular, "Waaaaaaaaaaa," every shot she took struck a  
target.  
And it wasn't just her accuracy that was keeping them in one  
piece. It seemed every large rock she blasted shifted the orbit of at  
least a dozen others when it fragmented. The result of all this was  
that Yukinojo sailed through a bubble of mostly empty space, his  
deflector screens more than able to handle the small fragments that  
were left behind by Mihoshi's fire and the collisions between other  
asteroids.  
Leaving the panic stricken Mihoshi to her task Yukinojo  
turned himself around, and headed for home. A phrase, spoken on  
numerous occasions by Mihoshi's former partner, Kiyone, floated  
through his circuits. "I don't believe it; we're still alive." That was  
when the principal power bus to the main guns gave up the ghost  
and vaporized under the sustained loads Mihoshi had been  
subjecting it to.  
As a dozen oversized boulders headed his way, Yukinojo  
muttered, "Of course, I should have known," echoing another  
frequent saying by his former commander.  
  
Several days later, what was left of Yukinojo limped into  
Galaxy Police headquarters and slipped into his usual repair bay.  
While Yukinojo's communication systems had been one of the  
first things to go during the battering he took, news of Mihoshi's  
activity had still managed to arrive before her. Her superior officer  
was waiting on deck, a very unhappy look on his face. Behind him,  
protected from the vacuum of the repair bay by a sheet of protective  
armor glass, stood a large group of beings. Despite their varied  
appearances they all possessed that certain something that said,  
'Mother for sale, cheap'. In short, they were lawyers.  
These particular examples of the breed were the combined  
representatives of all the various 'legitimate' companies that had  
made their home in the Fractal system. Companies that were  
looking at a major loss of assets due to Mihoshi's actions.  
  
The chain reaction Mihoshi and Yukinojo had started would,  
within three years, render the Fractal system non-navigational for  
the foreseeable future, and had, according to some experts, set  
Fractal back approximately a billion years in terms of geological  
formation.  
  
Fortunately for Mihoshi, another, smaller group of sentients  
were also watching her arrival, and directing gleeful looks toward  
their opposite numbers, one bay over.  
These were the representatives from the systems surrounding  
Fractal, whose various police forces had already picked up  
numerous wanted felons fleeing the rock grinder that the former  
pirate stronghold had become.  
  
As it worked out, thanks to the intervention of some of  
Fractal's neighbors, the Galaxy Police escaped liability for the  
several trillion credits worth of lost revenue that the Fractal  
representatives claimed, but not by much. Word came down from  
on high that perhaps detective Mihoshi would prefer to patrol a less  
breakable section of the universe.  
  
  
The present:  
  
In the deep night the Masaki household slept. All except for a  
stealthy figure dressed in blotched black trousers and a dark green  
top making it's way along the upper hallway. Despite its dark  
clothing and the dim light, it was very obvious the figure was  
female. It would take a lot more than what she was wearing to  
conceal that figure. Like, for instance, several winter coats. Instead,  
the only extra article she was wearing was a coil of rope tossed over  
one shoulder.  
As she moved, she kept up a quite monologue. "The brave  
ninja stalks the dark halls of the deadly castle, intent on her mission.  
No obstacle will keep her from punishing the evil doers. No foe, no  
matter how deadly, will stand --"  
  
"Meah!"  
The dark-clad figure jumped straight up in shock.  
  
The trembling ninja looked down from where she was clinging  
to the ceiling with white-knuckled fingers at the small furry creature  
below, who was currently sitting on its haunches looking up at her  
with an inquisitive gleam in its large liquid eyes. "Geez, squirt," the  
ninja said softly, as she dropped from the ceiling, landing without a  
sound, "I told ya not to sneak up on me like that. Whacha doing out  
of bed anyway? Little kids need their sleep. You go back to Sasami-  
chan, ok?"  
The little animal just sat there, looking at her.  
"Not going, huh?" the dark ninja said with a sigh. The fuzzy  
cabbit chirped an affirmative. "All right, but you can't go like that.  
Just give me a second here." The Ninja unwound several feet of  
cloth from the dark fabric she had used to cover her face. A flash of  
red shone in the moonlight as she tore off a small section, and then  
wrapped the remainder back around her face and hair. "There," she  
said with satisfaction, "that aught to do the trick."  
A minute later two stealthy figures made there way down the  
hall. The original one, and a new addition. A brown furry one with a  
dark cloth tied around it's head, two slits allowing large floppy ears  
to hang free. The taller one in the lead again offered commentary as  
they moved. "The two brave ninja steal silently toward the evil  
demon's lair. Nothing will keep the vengeance of heaven from  
striking her. No longer will the wicked creature prey on the brave,  
but dumb prince."  
She fell silent as they disappeared down the stairs. Several  
minutes passed, and they returned, the coil of rope absent.  
  
The next morning Sasami stood beside the door to the dining  
room, experience having taught her not to stand in front of it. She  
held a large empty pot in one hand, a ladle in the other. She raised  
the pan and banged on the bottom with the ladle while yelling,  
"Breakfast is ready!" Two things happened almost simultaneously.  
A green-black blur, trailing a long red braid behind it, dashed by  
Sasami, causing her dress to blow in the slipstream. At the same  
time a yell of panic came from the living room, causing the young  
girl to start in surprise.  
Rushing to the next room, Sasami was greeted by a surprising  
sight. Ryouko, swinging wildly back and forth, her hair brushing the  
floor, hanging from a rope that connected one ankle to the large  
ceiling beam that was her habitual sleeping spot.  
Ranma strolled up beside Sasami, a heaping bowl of rice in her  
hand. She grinned mischievously as she took in the demon-girl's  
situation. "Wow, Ryouko, sure is lucky you used a safety line. You  
might have hurt yourself, falling off your beam like that. Course,  
with all that cushioning on your bottom you'd have likely been  
alright."  
Ryouko's reply was, fortunately for Sasami's young ears,  
inarticulate, but the gaze she turned on Ranma, and the glowing  
energy sword that appeared in her hand, spoke volumes.  
"Ryouko!" A voice rang out in shock, causing the former  
space pirate to cringe as she looked up at the inverted form of  
Tenchi, who was standing at the top of the stairs. Her energy sword  
sputtered out, and her face assumed an expression reminiscent of a  
whipped puppy.  
  
In the last few days Ryouko had become rather gun-shy around  
Tenchi. It often seemed that every little thing she did got him mad  
at her. Her wild gyrations at the end of the rope caused her to turn  
away from him, and she started to sputter out that she hadn't done  
anything wrong. Before she could gain enough presence of mind to  
speak clearly, or to free herself from her undignified position, a pair  
of arms caught hold of her swinging body and gently lifted her into  
a more or less upright position.  
Ryouko found herself cradled very closely to Tenchi as he  
worked to free her ankle from the rope that was still looped around  
it. Having freed her leg, he gently set her down on the couch and  
cradled her foot between his strong callused hands.  
"Are you all right, Ryouko-san?" Tenchi asked, his voice filled  
with concern. "Does this hurt?" he added, as he moved her foot  
back and forth.  
Ryouko blinked at him, her mind nearly shutting down from  
the shock of the current situation. She'd dreamed of Tenchi  
kneeling before her like this. Of course, it hadn't been her ankle  
he'd been holding in those dreams, but still. . .  
"Ryouko-san?" Tenchi repeated in a questioning tone. "Are  
you all right?"  
Ryouko blinked again, started to say she was fine, but then her  
brain shifted gears, and she gave a little moan of pain. "Oh, Tenchi,  
it hurts." Ryouko squeezed her eyes together as tightly as she could,  
forcing a crocodile-tear to roll down her cheek.  
Ranma's jaw hit the floor. She could only stare in surprise as  
Tenchi tenderly manipulated Ryouko's foot, and then, taking a long  
bandage Sasami supplied, wrapped the injured girl's ankle.  
For some reason, the sight of Tenchi ministering so tenderly to  
Ryouko was making Ranma angry, which made her confused,  
which made her even angrier. Finally, unable to hold her feelings  
in, she said in a loud voice, "Oh come on, Tenchi! You ain't falling  
for this are you? She's faking!"  
Tenchi looked toward Ranma, an expression of  
disappointment in his eyes, and she suddenly found herself feeling  
guilty, and as low as a snake's belly button, or her father's pockets.  
(1) "Fine!" she said loudly. "Be a sucker. I'm going to go train."  
With that she stormed out of the house.  
  
(1) A frequent observation made by people who had gone  
drinking with him, was that Genma had deep pockets, and very  
short arms.  
  
"Stupid Ryouko," Ranma snarled to herself, as she moved her  
bokken through an intricate pattern, holding off an imaginary foe.  
Her shadow opponent, who happened to be the self-same Ryouko,  
wove around Ranma's weapon, moving her own gleaming weapon  
in counterpoint to Ranma's. Ranma twisted and turned, never  
letting the imaginary energy weapon come close to her.  
Ranma had been going at it for over an hour, and her body was  
covered in a heavy sheen of sweat. "Where the heck is Tenchi?" she  
asked herself. "The stupid baka should have been up here long ago  
for practice."  
"Feeling lonely little girl," her imaginary opponent mocked  
her. "Would you like to do some of this, and some of that with me  
instead?" she teased.  
"Yea, right, in your dreams, mummy," Ranma snarled,  
ignoring the fact that the figure doing the talking existed only in her  
own imagination, and what that might indicate about the cause of  
her current anger.  
Ranma slashed out at the taunting figure in front of her, using  
a particularly nasty pattern she'd been working on for a little while.  
Pushed onto the defensive, the imaginary Ryouko teleported behind  
Ranma, her sword raised high for the killing blow. Only to be  
smacked hard in the nose by the hilt of Ranma's bokken. Which the  
redhead had slid back over her shoulder in a powerful thrust.  
  
"Very effective," a wry voice from the side said. Pulling  
Ranma out of her semi-trance.  
"Huh?" she said intelligently. Looking around for the source  
of the comment. "Oh, it's you," she said, when she spotted  
Katsuhito. "How's it hanging, Gramps?"  
'Whack'  
"Ouch! What the heck was that for?" Ranma groused, rubbing  
the top of her head where Katsuhito had just thumped her with his  
bokken.  
"You should speak with more care to your elders, girl,"  
Katsuhito said, returning his bokken to its usual position, resting on  
his shoulder. "That was quite an effective strike you made there, but  
tell me. Was it really worth your fingers?"  
"Huh?" Ranma said in puzzlement, and then looked down at  
where her right hand was firmly grasped around the 'blade' of her  
bokken. She blushed, and rubbed the back of her head. "Oops,  
sorry, forgot."  
Katsuhito sighed, and said, "It's not your fault. Your father  
trained you too well in the anything-goes style. I feared that was the  
case from the first, but I wanted to make sure."  
Bristling at the implication that she was in someway lacking,  
Ranma said, "What's that suppose to mean? How the heck can I be  
trained 'too well'?"  
Katsuhito paused for a moment, and then started walking  
toward the temple, gesturing for Ranma to follow. As they walked,  
he said, "The anything-goes style trains the student in making use of  
anything that might come to hand to win a battle. It teaches you to  
access the potential of those objects in an instant, and to use them in  
the manner they are best suited for.  
"There is nothing wrong with this in theory, but it causes  
problems when you must use a substitute for a real weapon in  
serious training, as with the bokken. No matter how hard you try,  
deep down, your training forces you to view it as a shaped piece of  
wood, and not as the razor sharp sword it is supposed to represent."  
"So, why don't we just stop this play-acting, and use the real  
thing."  
"But that would be play-acting of a different nature. With the  
bokken, you can strike blows that would kill or cripple if delivered  
with a real sword. With a live blade, you would be forced to either  
train in solitude, or to pull your blows. Both of these are contrary to  
the way you have been trained, and at this point it would take far  
too long to overcome your ingrained conditioning, if we even  
could."  
"Bull," Ranma said in a dismissive tone. "Ain't any martial art  
I can't learn." Despite her words, Ranma was getting nervous.  
Katsuhito had taken great pains to convince her that she would be  
foolish to face the Musk without a weapon to magnify her talents  
and to counter their superior numbers. Now she was afraid he was  
about to tell her there was no way she could ever face them.  
"Possible, possible, but I'm thinking there might be another  
solution." By this time they had reached the porch that fronted the  
temple, and Katsuhito picked up a long object wrapped in cloth that  
was leaning against one of the porch supports. He handed it to  
Ranma, who didn't hesitate to strip the wrappings from whatever it  
was.  
A second later she was holding a bo staff, about five feet in  
length. Carved from a blond wood, it was very plain, lacking any  
decorative touches. It was simply a smooth, straight length of wood.  
Ranma spun it in her hands, and an eyebrow raised as she felt the  
perfect balance of the staff. It could have been made specially for  
her from the way it snugged perfectly into her hands. She spun it  
around her body several times, and then planted the butt firmly into  
the ground.  
Looking up at Katsuhito, she said. "Nice, but it's just a chunk  
of wood. What do I do when it breaks, and there isn't another one  
just like it nearby?"  
"It won't break," the old man said with assurance.  
"Come off it, old man. Everything breaks. That's why it's not  
a good idea to become dependent on a particular weapon."  
"Look more closely."  
Ranma sighed, but obeyed, humoring the old man. She  
carefully examined the staff in her hands, but as before, there was  
nothing particularly distinctive about it, other then it's color, most  
bo staves being of a much darker hue, having been hardened by an  
application of oil and laquer, and of course, lots, and lots of human  
sweat. This one obviously had never been used, or else it shed dirt  
really, really well. Something about that thought struck a chord,  
and Ranma looked again, this time paying close attention to the  
wood itself. She discovered a familiarity in the grain; she'd seen  
this type of wood before. She looked up at her Sensei in surprise.  
"It's made out of the same stuff as Tenchi's fancy sword."  
Katsuhito beamed at her. "That's it. Legend has it that the  
sacred tree shed two branches for an ancestor of mine, and he  
carved one of them into that staff."  
Ranma looked at the weapon in her hand with more respect.  
"Can it make a blade like Tenchi's sword?" She swung it  
experimentally, imagining it had a thin blade of energy at the one  
end. It would not effect the balance, being made of light. In her  
minds eye, she could easily imagine how effective such a weapon  
would be. It would restore, and then some, the reach she had lost  
when she'd been transformed. Then she frowned; unlike Tenchi's  
sword, there was no particular orientation to the staff, no front or  
back. Which way would the blade come out, or would it come out  
from both ends? In her mind, Ranma devised a kata that would take  
that into account. She was rather pleased with the result. This could  
be very cool indeed.  
"I don't know," Katsuhito said, breaking into Ranma's  
concentration.  
"You don't know?" Ranma said in surprise.  
"It's never been used. The one it was created for never got to  
use it. It's been in storage almost from the day it was created. It's a  
virgin." The old man raised an eyebrow, and smirked at the little  
redhead. "The two of you should get along fine together."  
Ranma swung the staff at Katsuhito, who leaned back just far  
enough for it to brush by his face, stirring his mustache slightly.  
Ranma was not really trying, however. She was too busy thinking  
on the possibilities of this new weapon. Something like this could  
level the playing field between her and Ryouko. She'd be able to  
keep the mummy away from Tenchi. Just to protect him, of course.  
Tenchi was too dumb to realize what a pervert the girl was.  
Ranma had given a lot of thought to how Tenchi's sword  
worked. Even if she hadn't been fascinated by its nature she would  
have done so out of ingrained habit. Genma had often shown her  
strange and exotic weapons, given her a few minutes to study them,  
and then attacked, expecting her to know how best to use it.  
Mistakes were painful.  
It was obvious that it had something to do with this power of  
Jurai that the princess was always going on about. Ranma knew that  
she should be able to make use of that power. Ayeka certainly spent  
enough time telling Ranma how special it was that she had Jurai  
blood. She had spent much time in private trying to call up the  
power, but without much success. Maybe the staff would help her  
focus better.  
Infusing a weapon with ki was fairly simple; Ranma had first  
managed it when she was seven. That would be a good place to  
start. Ranma turned till she was facing the half dozen poles located  
in one corner of the shrine. The top foot of each was wrapped in  
heavy hemp rope, and they'd served as targets for her solo sparring,  
both armed and unarmed.  
Ranma focused on the weapon in her hands, feeling the warm  
wood against her flesh, the slight weight pulling against her arm.  
She sent her mind inward, imagining energy pulling in from all over  
her body, and pooling in her belly. When the ball of chi force in her  
stomach felt balanced, she pictured it flowing up her body and  
down her arms into the weapon she held. Long practice let her  
complete the exercise in less time then it took to tell it.  
A soft glow started emanating from the wood of the bo-staff.  
While she was elated by her success, Ranma kept her concentration.  
The staff moved in her hands as she started a slow kata. As the  
weapon flowed through the air, it trailed a faint afterimage. Ranma  
started to spin the staff in front of her. Faster and faster she went till  
a low thrum sounded. Replacing the straight stick she had held, a  
glowing disk of energy stood in front of Ranma, centered on her  
rapidly twisting hands.  
Ranma took a step forward, and the disk in her hand suddenly  
changed once more to a simple staff as she thrust it at one of the  
practice posts. The point of the shaft struck with a solid thunk  
against the hemp cords circling the post, and almost instantly there  
was a sharp 'tak' sound as the other end flowed backward and into  
the post behind Ranma.  
Ranma became a blurred image as she moved among the  
seasoned wood of the practice posts. Her staff was invisible except  
for the glow it left behind as it moved through the air. The sound of  
the staff striking wood and rope became a constant rattle, barely a  
moment of time between each blow.  
Katsuhito looked on in approval. Despite the speed that Ranma  
was using, each blow was carefully controlled and lightly struck.  
The bo was not a bludgeoning weapon, but one requiring finesse.  
Pressure points and vulnerable areas were it's natural targets, and  
they were usually small, and in most cases, did not need to be struck  
with any great force to be effective.  
Still, the weapon Ranma was currently wielding was not your  
average bo-staff, and she needed to realize just what it could do.  
"Oh dear," Katsuhito said in a loud, but bland voice, "I guess you're  
too small and weak to really use that staff the way it can be. Maybe  
I should wait till I can find a boy to give it to."  
Ranma gave no sign that she'd heard Katsuhito, but inwardly,  
she was seething. Weak was she? She was stronger then any stupid  
boy. Despite that, she did not immediately strike out with full force.  
The staff in her hand was the most perfect weapon she had ever  
held, and she found herself loath to break it. As she realized this,  
her expression firmed. This was why weapons were so bad. You got  
attached to them. Better to end this now. Not without regret, Ranma  
set out to break her new staff.  
The steady tak, tak, tak of her blows stopped, and she stood in  
the middle of the practice posts, the weapon spinning in a circle  
above her. For a brief moment Ranma stood still, only the arms  
stretched above her head moving. A look of intense concentration  
was on her face, and her complexion was red with strain.  
"Kiaaaaaaa," Ranma screamed as she brought the staff  
swinging down and around in a complex figure that maximized her  
leverage. With all the force she could muster, she slammed the staff  
into the side of one of the practice poles.  
The side of the six-inch thick oak pole opposite Ranma's blow  
exploded in splinters, and the top slumped over. Ranma didn't see  
this. Using the rebounding force from the staff to boost her next  
swing, she swung it around and into the next nearest post, which  
also shattered under the blow.  
Five seconds after she shouted her battle cry, Ranma came to a  
stop, the staff tucked under her left arm. Her left leg was bent  
slightly forward, and her right leg and arm were extended in front of  
her in a ready stance. She held the pose for a second, and then  
became aware of the carnage around her. "No way," she said in an  
amazed voice, starring at the shattered remains of the heavy practice  
posts. Dropping out of her stance she brought the staff around and  
examined in carefully. Not a single scratch marred it's surface.  
Katsuhito smiled at Ranma's expression. Her expressive face  
hid nothing of her inward feelings. Just so a child might look, who  
has opened a Christmas present, and found the gift she'd been  
wanting above all others. A frown suddenly appeared on Katsuhito  
face as he noticed a small detail he had missed. "Ranma, your  
nose," he said in a sharp voice.  
"Huh?" Ranma said, looking over at him. She brought a hand  
up and wiped it across her face. Looking down at the back of her  
hand, she saw a smear of blood. She gave a snort, and sprayed a  
small splatter of blood across the courtyard. "Guess I must have  
caught a splinter," she said in a nonchalant tone, looking around at  
the destroyed posts.  
Suddenly she turned and focused on Katsuhito, a very feral  
expression on her face. Spinning the staff in her hands gently, she  
smiled nastily at him. "Feel like a little exercise, old man?"  
"I thought you and the others were going to the hot springs to-  
day," Katsuhito said in mock surprise. "Or have you decided to stay  
and keep this old man company." He put his best leer on his face,  
only to find it wasted as Ranma was already racing toward the  
stairs. The expression on his face shifted to one of fondness as he  
watched her go.  
Ranma called back over her shoulder as she hit the edge of the  
stairs. "Sorry. I forgot. Got to go! See you later. Thanks for the  
staff."  
Katsuhito smiled at the swirling dust devil that was all that  
remained as evidence of Ranma's presence. But then a frown  
appeared on his face. Despite her words he didn't think it had been  
a splinter that had caused Ranma's nosebleed. Ranma was not an  
easy bleeder, and it was unlikely the strain of her efforts could have  
caused it either. So what had?  
At the last there, he had felt a distinct flavor of the power of  
Jurai. Could that be the cause? Ranma's ability to use the power  
was the first instance Katsuhito had ever heard of someone being  
granted the talent through artificial means.  
He had assumed that the girl had acquired Xian Pu's body, and  
ability, because of her distant relationship to him. But what if that  
was not enough? What if Ranma had gained the talent, but not the  
ability to channel it correctly. The strain on her body would be  
enormous. Maybe more than it could handle.  
Almost Katsuhito called Ranma back, meaning to caution her,  
but then he decided against it. Ranma was going to the hot springs  
with Tenchi and the girls. Even if she quarreled with Ryouko, it was  
very unlikely she'd use more power then what she'd used here. He  
would talk to her later  
He shook off the brief feeling of dread that filled him, putting  
it down to the worries of an old man who had lost too many loved  
ones. It was good that Xian Pu's staff finally had a master. It was a  
crime for such a fine weapon to gather dust. He turned and headed  
into the temple, his mind centuries in the past.  
  
Tenchi Masaki was no ladies man. Under most circumstances  
he tended to freeze up when forced into conversation with the fairer  
sex.  
Up till now, he'd been doing fairly well with the girls who had  
invaded his life, but that was mainly because they were all so  
aggressive. He never had to initiate the conversation. Things had  
changed. He needed to broach a subject with Ranma that the  
redhead was likely very sensitive about at the moment. If he didn't  
get his opening sentence just right, she was likely to walk away  
before he could get his explanation out.  
So as he walked up the stairs toward the shrine, he rehearsed  
potential lines out loud.  
"I'm sorry, Ranma."  
"I'm really very sorry, Ranma."  
"No, Ranma will think I'm a wimp if I say that."  
"I was really wrong, Ranma."  
"No, no! That's just as bad. Maybe if I just act casual.  
"Hey, guess what, Ranma? You were right about Ryouko.  
How about that?"  
"Well, Geez. Big whooping surprise there."  
"Arrgggg," Tenchi cried out, stumbling back down several  
stairs. He looked up to see Ranma standing above him, a smirk on  
her face, a wooden staff resting negligently on her shoulder.  
"So, how'd you figure it out?" Ranma asked. Then she  
smirked. "Or maybe I should say, how long before the mummy gave  
herself away?" As she talked, she walked down the steps past  
Tenchi, who hurriedly turned and fell into step beside her.  
"Well, ha ha," Tenchi laughed embarrassedly, while rubbing  
the back of his head with one hand.  
"She got perverted, didn't she?"  
"No, no, not at all, she just wanted to thank me for being so  
kind, and the princess misunderstood."  
"So the two of them started going at it, and the dumb mummy  
forgot she was suppose to be hurt?"  
"Well, something like that. Ranma, I'm sorry."  
"You're a baka is what you are," Ranma said in a friendly, if  
chiding, tone, taking some of the sting out of her words. "You really  
got to stop letting people walk all over you, Tenchi. You don't see  
me being such a chump."  
Tenchi looked at Ranma with wide eyes, and said in a joyful  
voice. "You mean you wanted to get engaged to me? Oh Ranma,  
I'm so happy."  
Ranma eeped, and barely escaped Tenchi's attempt to hug her.  
She jumped down a dozen steps in one bound, and would have  
continued her flight, if not for the sound of Tenchi's howls of  
laughter.  
The brown-haired boy was laying where his attempt to glomp  
Ranma had landed him, laughing fit to burst. Still laughing, he  
pointed a finger at Ranma, and choked out, "Who's the baka now?"  
Ranma scowled at him. Then, drawing up her dignity, she  
turned and marched down the stairs. Once her face turned away  
from Tenchi, the scowl dropped from her face, and was replace by  
an impish grin. "There may be hope for the baka yet," she  
whispered to herself.  
"Don't be mad, Ranma. I was only joking," Tenchi panted, as  
he hurried down the stairs to walk beside Ranma.  
But, I'm still the master, Ranma thought to herself, as they  
walked down the stairs side by side.  
  
  
***********************************  
  
Sasami jumped from the Range Rover almost before it stopped  
moving. "Ayeka, we're here!" she shouted out with glee, turning to  
tug on her sisters sleeve in order to hurry the princess' slow exit  
from the vehicle.  
"Really, Sasami. You should be more lady-like," Ayeka  
chided her sister, then sweated as Ranma bounced out of the sport-  
utility vehicle with a loud cry of pleasure.  
"All right, we're finally here. I think my ass has fallen asleep."  
"Ranma-chan!" Ayeka chided fiercely. "Please behave with  
more dignity while we are in public. You're setting a very bad  
example for Sasami."  
"Ahh, leave Red alone," Ryouko exclaimed, getting out of the  
vehicle and stretching her arms high over her head, causing her  
chest to strain against the thin fabric of her shirt. "You ought to  
loosen up princess," She said, drawing out the word 'princess',  
making it an insult. Tucking her hands behind her neck, Ryouko  
continued to stretch out the kinks from the long trip. While doing  
so, she watched Ranma out of the corner of her eyes, and smiled  
nastily at the little redhead's attempts to not look at her. Taking  
advantage of Ranma's visual avoidance, she quickly reached down  
and patted the girl's bottom, eliciting a shocked yell from Ranma,  
and a leap that put her a good fifteen feet away.  
"What the heck are you trying to do, you pervert!?" Ranma  
yelled, her face heavily flushed.  
"Just waking up that sleepy ass of yours, Red," Ryouko leered  
before fading from sight.  
Ranma looked around frantically, wondering where the  
demon-girl was going to appear, and gave a sigh of relief when she  
saw Ryouko appear at the back of the truck where Tenchi was busy  
unpacking the luggage. For once, she was content to leave the two  
of them alone. Let Tenchi put up with the cyan-haired girl's teasing.  
At least he was a boy.  
"Ah, so you're little Tenchi's fiancee," a voice said behind  
Ranma, and she turned to find herself eye-to-eye with an elderly  
lady, who gave her an appraising look. "You're just a little bit of a  
thing, but you've got good wide hips. You should give Tenchi-chan  
lots of good healthy sons."  
Ranma was past the point where she would automatically  
object to such a comment, thanks in a large part to Ayeka's training,  
but she was far from being comfortable with such a frank statement,  
and as a result a strong blush covered her face.  
"Hahahhahahah," the old woman chortled, with a hint of  
approval behind the laughter "Shy, are you? Well don't worry.  
You'll get over that soon enough. I'm sure Tenchi will see to that,"  
she teased. "Just remember though, girl, this is a family place, so  
don't you go letting Tenchi sneak into you bed while you're here.  
I'll be keeping an eye on you two." The old lady cackled as she took  
in not only Ranma's flush of outrage, but Tenchi's look of near  
terminal embarrassment, her comments having been loud enough  
for him to hear. Nobuyuki joined in her laughter at the expression  
on his son's face.  
His feelings were not improved by Ryouko whispering in his  
ear. "Don't worry Tenchi. While the old bat is watching Red, I'll  
sneak in and keep you warm."  
Ranma fumed, and Tenchi blushed as they were surrounded by  
ribald laughter.  
  
******************************************  
  
Tenchi gave a sigh of pleasure as he leaned back in the  
steaming pool of hot water. His pleasure was short lived, however.  
"Come on, Tenchi, you can't waste this opportunity. There are  
pretty girls just over that wall, and it would be an insult to them not  
to try and peek," his father admonished him.  
Tenchi groaned as he took in the napkin his father had tied  
over his head and under his nose in classic peeping-tom style.  
Fortunately, his father did not waste time arguing with him, but  
instead decided to teach by example, bad that is. As Tenchi watched  
in disbelief, his father began to scale the twenty-foot wall that  
separated the men's side from the women's  
"What's your pop up to now?" a voice asked from behind him.  
"Oh, hi, Ranma. The usual for him," Tenchi said, then froze in  
shock. "Ranma?" he stuttered, turning to face the redheaded girl.  
"Ack," he garbled, and hastily twisted his face away as he got an  
eyeful of Ranma, sans clothes, standing in the thigh-high water.  
"What the heck are you doing here?" Tenchi asked in shock,  
pinching his nose in order to avoid embarrassing himself. "The  
girl's side is over there."  
"Well, duh," Ranma said sarcastically. "I'm a guy, remember?  
I can't bath with girls."  
Ranma was not being completely truthful. She'd bathed  
dozens of times on the ladies' side of the public baths since her  
change. But sharing a bath with strangers was a completely different  
matter than sharing it with girls she knew, especially that un-cute  
pervert Ryouko. Who knows what she'd try. Unbidden, an image of  
Ryouko leaning over during their fight at the temple rose in her  
mind, to be hastily dispelled. Girl's didn't think that way about  
other girls, Ranma reminded herself, not for the first, or fifty-first,  
time.  
That train of thought, unfortunately for Ranma, led in an  
unwelcome direction. If it was wrong for girls to think about girls  
that way, it was right for them to think about boys that way. Taking  
that to the next step, it was therefore right for boys to think about  
girls like that. Ranma was suddenly very conscious of the fact that  
she was currently wearing nothing, while Tenchi was garbed in a  
towel. That towel was currently behaving in a most un-towel like  
manner. As a former boy, Ranma was very aware of the motivating  
force behind that motion, and thanks to Ayeka, curse her, she also  
knew far more then she cared to about how that applied to her.  
Ranma's face suddenly felt hotter than the water she was standing  
in.  
It was almost a relief when a long drawn out scream, followed  
by a loud splash drew her attention back to Tenchi's father, who  
was currently floating in the pool at the base of the dividing wall.  
"Tenchi!" a voice called from above. Ranma jerked her eyes  
up from the floating Nobuyuki to see Ryouko, who was resting her  
arms on the wall, looking down at her and Tenchi. "There you are.  
What are you doing over there? Come over here. It's much nicer."  
To Ranma's disgust, Tenchi mumbled a rather pathetic excuse,  
while actually looking like he might not mind the idea. She should  
have known; the levitating towel was a dead give away, after all.  
Boys were such perverts.  
Ryouko did not give Tenchi a chance to decide one way or  
another. She lightly leaped over the wall, and phased out of sight,  
only to re-appear standing on a rock beside the pool, stark naked.  
Tenchi eeped and hastily turned away, only to find himself  
staring at an equally naked Ranma, who blushed and covered  
herself with her hands. "Pervert!" she hissed at him.  
Before he could apologize, or figure out why the usually  
immodest Ranma wasn't, Tenchi found himself being hauled into  
the air by Ryouko. Tenchi only briefly struggled, as he almost  
immediately realized that any motion on his part brought him into  
intimate contact with Ryouko's parts.  
Ranma forgot her brief surge of feminine modesty, as she  
watched Ryouko carry Tenchi over the wall that separated the  
men's and ladies sides of the bath.  
"Damn you, Ryouko, you let Tenchi go!" she shouted after the  
departing pair. Ryouko, not surprisingly, paid her no mind  
whatsoever. Ranma bounded across the pool in two jumps, the  
second one off of the floating Nobuyuki's belly. Reaching the rock  
ridge which supported the tall bamboo dividing wall, she tensed her  
legs in preparation of jumping over it, and paused.  
Beads of sweat formed on Ranma's head as she peered at the  
top of the fence. Leaping over it would be no problem. The problem  
would start on the other side. The side where Ryouko, and Tenchi,  
waited.  
Ranma dithered in indecision. The thought of leaving Tenchi  
to Ryouko's non-existent mercy was unthinkable, but to go over  
there herself, where they both could look at her that way . . . and  
then there was that towel . . .  
Maybe. . .maybe she should go get herself a towel first. Surely  
Tenchi could defend his virtue for that long . . . couldn't he? Would  
he?  
Before Ranma could answer her own question, the matter was  
taken out of her hands. Ryouko's head and upper torso phased  
through the bamboo dividing wall. "What's keeping you, Red. The  
fun's on this side of the fence."  
"Fun, yeah, right. I've seen your idea of fun," Ranma retorted,  
unconsciously covering her breasts with her arms, while trying not  
to stare at Ryouko's own generous assets. Taking her eyes off the  
demon-girl proved her undoing. Ryouko reached out and wrapped  
her muscular arms around Ranma, and pulled her through the wall.  
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Ranma screamed in a long, drawn out  
wail as she was pulled through a solid wall. As soon as Ryouko  
released her, she hastily patted herself down to make sure  
everything was still there. Having assured herself that all her parts  
were still, in fact, part of her, she turned an angry look in Ryouko's  
direction. "What the hell are you doing?! What if you'd left some of  
me behind, you baka?"  
Ryouko laughed off this suggestion, but her laughter cut short  
as numerous small log-shaped objects suddenly appeared in the air  
around her. Long white tendrils spun out of them, reaching for her.  
Ryouko hovered calmly in mid air until she was almost enveloped  
in the white strands, and then with a blur of motion, she  
disappeared. She re-appeared above Ayeka, the instigator of the  
attack on her.  
"Blow from above!" Ryouko cried out in triumph, too early as  
it turned out. Her hard-driven fist smacked into Ranma's crossed  
forearms. The little redhead had moved so fast, she might almost  
have been using Ryouko's own phasing technique. Ranma twisted  
to the side, letting Ryouko's blow slide down a forearm. Her hands  
and arms wove around Ryouko's larger limbs, catching them just  
so. With a heave of her upper body, Ranma twisted Ryouko around  
in the air, and then slammed her face first into the pool.  
"Hehehehehheheheheheeheh," Ayeka chortled in glee. "That  
will teach you to not to molest your betters, you . . . ." Ayeka's  
voice cut off as she suddenly noticed that the girls side of the bath  
was no longer a segregated area. Tenchi waved weakly at her from  
where he was standing beside Sasami, still clad only in a small  
white towel, one hand, positioned in front of him, holding it in  
place. "Tenchi-sama," Ayeka said in shock, her face turning red.  
There was a small tug behind her, and Ayeka turned her head  
around to see that Ryouko had recovered from Ranma's attack, and  
was currently drying her long cyan-colored hair with a towel. A  
sudden draft caused her to look down, and to realize where  
Ryouko's towel had come from.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!."  
  
All around the shrine, for a distance of several miles, birds  
took flight as the horrified scream shook leaves from the trees.  
  
The waters of the hot pool washed back and forth violently in  
the wake of Ayeka's departure for the changing room. Slowly, first  
one, and then more heads poked above the surface of the water,  
hands held protectively over ears.  
"Princess?" Tenchi said in concern, and started to wade after  
the departed Ayeka.  
"I wouldn't," Ranma said, laying a restraining hand on  
Tenchi's arm. She had acquired Ayeka's former towel, and was  
wearing it around her body. "Girls get weird when they get  
surprised like that. Better let someone go who she won't clobber.  
Sasami?" While Ranma didn't speak from personal experience, she  
had listened in to enough bathing room conversations to know that  
much at least.  
Sasami started, and looked over at Ranma. Catching the red-  
head's meaning, she nodded in agreement, and started toward the  
changing room. Before she got far, however, Ayeka appeared in the  
doorway, clad in a white towel, and with a furious expression on her  
face.  
"Demon, for humiliating a princess of Jurai, you will pay!"  
Ryouko yawned, then scratched under an arm, while saying in  
a monotone, "How scary, I'm so frightened." She flashed a toothy  
smile at Ayeka.  
Ayeka didn't bother to reply. She conjured up a flotilla of her  
personal defenders, and sent them out to encircle Ryouko. Lightning  
flashed between them, but Ryouko was not there when it struck.  
"You really should learn some new tricks, Princess," Ryouko  
taunted from her position on top of a large boulder. "Here, let me  
show you what I mean." Ryouko concentrated, and numerous misty  
streaks of spiritual energy began to flow out of the surrounding  
rocks and water. "They call me Ryouko because I can call up spirits  
from anything."  
At Ryouko's instructions, the wisps of energy began to swirl  
around Ayeka, who mimicked Ryouko's bored stance of a few  
minutes earlier. The small balls of spirit energy glanced off her  
personal defensive shields, doing her no harm at all. Ayeka stifled a  
mock yawn with one hand while saying, "You call this pathetic  
side show an attack? I've seem more formidable kittens."  
Ryouko again bared her teeth at Ayeka in a very unfriendly  
smile. "I'm so sorry to bore you. Maybe you'll find this of more  
interest."  
Ranma's eyes widened in shock at the creature Ryouko  
proceeded to conjure up. A was a good twelve feet in height, with a  
large barrel chest and arms like a gorilla. If it hadn't been made out  
of spiritual energy it would likely have weighed in at over a ton.  
Ranma's eyes got even wider when the creature took a swing  
at its creator, taking out a good section of fence after Ryouko  
dodged out of the way. Despite it's misty appearance, it was  
obviously very solid in some ways. "Oh boy, I've got a very bad  
feeling about this," Ranma said to herself. Leaning forward, she  
scooped Sasami up, and plopped her back down behind a large  
boulder, then thrust Ryo-oh-ki into her hands. "You two stay here. I  
think the mummy's taken after my Pop, and got herself in deep sh .  
. .," Ranma paused, and then continued, ". . . stuff. Are you  
nuts!!!?"  
The last interjection was directed at Tenchi, who was in the  
process of moving after Ryouko, Ayeka, and the, whatever the hell  
it was, who had by now disappeared into the main building of the  
resort."  
"I have to help them," Tenchi said.  
"You have to get your ass kicked, you mean. What the fu, . . ."  
Ranma again caught herself, casting a glance back over her  
shoulders at her underage listeners. "What the heck to you think you  
can do? Snap it with your towel? We need weapons. Where did you  
leave your sword?"  
Tenchi's face lit up at Ranma's words. "It's in my room."  
Tench started to head toward an exit, but then paused, and looked  
back at Ranma. "Will you be alright?" he asked.  
"Don't be stupid. Worry about your own butt. Meet me back  
here, and then we'll show fang-girl how you're suppose to fight  
monsters." With that, Ranma jumped lightly over the dividing wall  
between the men and ladies side. There was a cry of surprise from  
Nobuyuki, cut short with a splash.  
Tenchi hesitated, looking over at Sasami and Ryo-oh-ki who  
were waiting where Ranma had put them. "Don't worry, Tenchi-  
neechan, Ryo-oh-ki and I'll be alright. Go get your sword and  
protect Oneechan and Ryouko-neechan." the little girl said. Tenchi  
gave Sasami a nod and a smile of encouragement, then rushed off  
after his weapon. Left behind in the pool, Sasami crouched down  
behind the boulder and hugged Ryo-oh-ki tightly. "Hurry back,  
Oniichan," she said, in a voice that was no where near as brave as  
the one she had just used to send Tenchi off.  
  
As Ranma raced toward the parking lot, her father's voice  
echoed in her head.  
"Weapons are for those too weak, or too lazy to learn true  
martial arts. If you are dependent on a weapon, then if you lose it, or  
have it taken away, you are helpless. You, yourself, are the ultimate  
weapon. Nothing, and no one, can take that away from you."  
"Yea right, Pop," Ranma said to the voice in her head, "but  
what do you do when your facing something like that thing? Even  
Ryouko and Ayeka couldn't stop it. You never mentioned things  
like that when you lectured me on why I'd never need to depend on  
a weapon. I just hope to hell that staff Grandpop gave me can even  
the odds.  
Ranma reached the parking lot, and the Masaki's rented SUV.  
Leaping to the top of the vehicle, she found the staff Katsuhito had  
given her, and freed if from the hasty ties she's used when she'd  
stuck it up there before the trip.  
As Ranma pulled the staff free, explosions ripped through the  
resorts covered walkway. For a second Ranma contemplated  
charging in the direction of the explosions, but decided against it.  
The explosions only marked where the creature had been, not where  
it necessarily was. Ayeka and Ryouko could take care of themselves  
as well as Ranma could. It was the kids, Sasami, and Ryo-oh-ki, that  
needed her protection. Turning her back on more explosions,  
Ranma raced back to where she'd left the younger members of their  
party.  
How well she had chosen was proven when she arrived at the  
pool just in time to see the creature Ryouko had summoned bat  
Tenchi aside with a casual blow of it's hand.  
The battle computer that Genma's training had created inside  
Ranma's mind kicked in, and time seemed to slow. Tenchi's fate  
was beyond her. She couldn't get to him in time. The only thing she  
could do for him was to make sure the misty-monster did not try to  
finish the job.  
A sideways glance with her eyes showed Ryo-oh-ki and  
Sasami still hiding behind the rock where she left them. Sasami had  
a hand held to her mouth in shock, and her eyes were following  
Tenchi's flight through the air. A tensing of certain muscles groups  
informed Ranma that Sasami was about to rush to Tenchi's side.  
Again there was nothing that Ranma could do to prevent this.  
Moving to stop the young girl would merely draw attention to her  
and the small furry creature in her arms. Somehow Ranma didn't  
think the creature in front of her was about to be affected by a  
couple of pairs of kawaii eyes.  
The best bet was to use Tenchi's idea. Distract the monster,  
keep its focus away from the non-combatants.  
Tenchi was still in the air when Ranma gave a battle scream,  
and rushed toward the foggy-bodied creature, drawing its attention  
fully on to herself.  
As Ranma moved toward the creature, she started to spin the  
staff in her hands, moving it faster and faster till, like at the shrine,  
it was a disk shaped blur between her and the creature. Sending a  
prayer up to whatever Kami might be listening, she started focusing  
more and more energy into the staff in her hands.  
A feeling of satisfaction filled Ranma as her actions were met  
with success, and the blurred disk in front of her began to glow with  
a light much brighter then that which it had manifested before. It  
was nowhere near as brilliant as that emitted by the blade of  
Tenchi's sword, but it was all she had.  
"Eat this, foggy!" Ranma cried, leaping toward the monster,  
the staff swinging in a powerful arc toward the creatures head.  
Behind her, Tenchi crashed against the fence and slid to the ground.  
A second later, Ranma too smashed into a fence, shattering it, then  
sliding down into the water. Ranma sat dazed while a flock of  
miniature winged pandas circled her head holding signs that said, *I  
told you so.* Her staff splashed down into the men's pool well  
below her present level.  
Her attack had caused a small disruption in the creatures misty  
body, just enough to cause it pain, and to make it lash out at the  
source of that discomfort. Now it took steps to make sure this  
particular gnat would never cause it pain again.  
  
As the creature moved toward the felled redhead, a swirling  
spot of energy appeared high in the sky above the combatants.  
  
Ranma, vision blurred from the force of the blow, looked up at  
the approaching monster, trying to get back her focus. As she  
struggled, the monster suddenly paused, and swatted at Ryouko,  
who buzzed around it's head, distracting it from Ranma.  
Gritting her teeth, and ignoring the ache in her chest, Ranma  
pressed back against the bamboo wall behind her, and forced herself  
upright. A wave of dizziness swept through her, and her vision  
blurred. For just a second Ranma was not seeing Ryouko battling  
the mist-monster she had conjured up, but another scene, a scene a  
lifetime ago. A pink haired man leered down at Ranma, while  
beside him a guardian log, who was not Kamidake or Asaka  
hovered. The vision lasted only a second, and then vanished, but it  
was enough. Ranma remembered! She remembered the last  
moments of the girl whose body she now wore. Dreams of which  
she'd had while recovering from the neko-ken. Somehow the  
similarities between her current situation, and those long ago events  
had made a connection. The ache in her chest, the water around her  
legs, the bamboo against her back. It all reinforced the  
remembrance of that long ago battle. The disorientation that filled  
Ranma's mind vanished, replaced by a grim determination. This  
monster was going down!  
Ranma reached deep into herself, remembering the sensations  
that had filled her borrowed body all those years ago. Energy  
seemed to flow into her body from everywhere. More energy then  
she could ever remember summoning in her life.  
As the energy built, fire raced through her veins. Sweat beaded  
on her forehead, and fell into the water that flowed around her  
thighs. Water began to steam where it made contact with her skin.  
Little bubbles formed, and broke free to float to the surface of the  
pool. Ranma ignored it all; her whole being was focused on the  
power growing between her hands. I can do this! Ranma thought to  
herself. Just me, no weapons.  
At last, through some manner unknown to herself, Ranma  
realized she had gathered what she needed, and it was time to use it.  
Weaving her hands, she traced outlines in the air, outlines that  
glowed with energy, and three ragged-edged triangles of light  
appeared between her and the mist-monster. Sweat ran off Ranma's  
body in streams, and thin trickles of blood flowed from her nose  
and ears.  
Ranma, ignoring the outward signs of suffering and straining  
with all her might, brought her weaving hands inward, and the three  
wings of energy in front of her furled around each other to form a  
fat, roughly cigar-shaped, tube.  
There was no need for Ranma to force power down and  
through that construct; for the last several moments it had taken all  
her will to hold the energy she had collected in check. All she had to  
do was release the tethers her mind had forged.  
  
She did it.  
  
With a scream of shattering air, power flowed out of Ranma,  
and through the focus point she had constructed, and as it did,  
Ranma cried out with her last ounce of energy. "RYUU SATSU  
HA!!!!!" Completely drained, she then fell face forward into the hot  
spring. Ranma did not get to see the result of her efforts, but others  
certainly did.  
  
Ryouko had been fully focused on distracting the mist-monster  
from the others when the fine hairs on her arms began to shift while  
the skin they were attached to tingled. Long experience told her that  
a very large energy source was powering up nearby. She flew up  
above the creature she was battling, just out of it's reach, and  
looked around. What she saw was Ranma. The red-headed girl was  
leaning against the remains of one of the walls that surrounded the  
pool. Her arms and hands stretched out toward the creature that  
even now was trying to bat Ryouko out of the air. Between Ranma's  
outstretched hands, and the monster, was a narrow ovoid-shaped  
cylinder. The object glowed with a milky translucence, while a  
corona of writhing tendrils of energy flowed and shifted around it.  
Ryouko was not given long to stare at the object. As she  
watched, a brilliant glow appeared in the hollow end of the tube that  
was pointed in her direction. Instinct caused her to throw a  
protective arm up, shielding her eyes from what she knew in her  
bones was coming.  
The air shrieked as it was literally torn apart by the force of the  
bolt of energy that surged out of the object Ranma had constructed.  
Flashing at the speed of light, the stream of energy hit the creature.  
Fully two-thirds of it's mass simply disappeared. It was not  
shredded or dissipated, it simply ceased to exist, as did the wall  
behind the monster, and a half mile away, the top of a rocky hill.  
Fortunately, the upward trajectory of Ranma's energy meant  
that from that point on, there was nothing in front of that beam of  
devastation but empty space. At least Ryouko hoped it was empty.  
  
Several dozen miles away, Katsuhito Masaki looked at the  
blinding beam of light that pierced the heavens, and his heart turned  
over in his chest. Once before he had sensed such an attack, and it  
had been the swan song of his daughter. Filled with dread, he  
remembered his earlier worries about Ranma. He hurried down the  
stairs to his son-in-law's house. If something had happened to  
Ranma, that was the place to wait for news.  
  
Yukinojo shuddered as his already strained force shields took a  
glancing blow from some sort of energy attack coming from the  
surface of the planet. The shields, already taxed by their precipitous  
decent into Earth's atmosphere started to fail. Yukinojo transferred  
all available energy into the shields, and preceded to calculate PI,  
which was the AI version of prayer.  
  
Yukinojo had the distinction of calculating PI to more places  
then any other AI in the Galaxy Police fleet.  
  
"Mihoshi," he reported. "Someone is shooting at us." He  
paused, waiting for her response. None came.  
The blond police officer was staring raptly at the view screen.  
On it the stark blue of water offered an attractive contrast to a large  
island chain which they were heading directly toward. At high  
velocity. "Whaaa, how pretty,' She murmured.  
"Mihoshi? MIHOSHI?"  
"Hum?" Mihoshi said in a distracted tone of voice, her eyes  
still on the lovely island."  
"We're under attack."  
"Oh, well, I guess we should take evasive action, that's right  
isn't it?" Without waiting for a response, Mihoshi reached for the  
emergency short-jump button.  
  
Designed for use in the most extreme emergency, the short-  
jump button generated an un-calculated hyper-spatial leap of less  
then one light-second, the absolute minimum possible. It was to be  
used in only the most dire of circumstances.  
  
Mihoshi had once used it to leave a docking bay.  
  
It was never to be used under any circumstances in a planetary  
gravity well.  
  
"MIHOSHI, I DON'T THINK THAT'S A GOOD IDEA!!!"  
  
Far off in space, someone else sensed the energy flare Ranma  
had fired with a feeling of pleasure rather then dread. "Is this the  
true power of Jurai?" he murmured to himself, as the sensors  
onboard the Soja relayed the information they gathered directly to  
his mind. "It is weak, but it has that flavor," he concluded once all  
the readings were in.  
He lifted his eyes to the bright blue sphere that floated in the  
Soja's main viewing screen. "Who would have thought that my  
search might end on such an insignificant speck. I have found you,  
Yosho, and your blood. Soon they, and it, will tell me what I wish to  
know."  
  
Even though it had done so after her own attack, Ryouko was  
shocked, and not a bit annoyed, to see the remains of the mist-  
monster flowing back together. The look on her face quickly turned  
to laughter, however, as she took in the one-foot tall monster, which  
was busy trying not to drown in the foot-and-a-half of water it was  
in.  
Ryouko floated down and pushed the little creature under the  
water. It thrashed back to the surface and howled it's anger at her,  
she just pushed it back down again. "Not so tough now are you  
misty?" she said in a cruel tone.  
Ryouko was not a good winner.  
Screams of panic distracted the former space pirate from her  
amusement. She looked up to discover that the landscape had,  
seemingly, taken up levitation. Everything surrounding her, that  
was not fastened down, was floating up into the sky. Her own innate  
ability to ignore gravity had left her immune to the phenomenon,  
but others were not so lucky. Tenchi and Ranma were both being  
lifted into the sky, along with everything else. A quick look showed  
Ryouko that Sasami and Ryo-oh-ki were holding tight to a large  
rock, and were safe for the moment. Ayeka stood in the doorway to  
the resort, her hands braced on the frame. Satisfied that the rest of  
their party was secure, she took off into the sky after Tenchi and  
Ranma.  
She reached Ranma first, and simply holding out an arm,  
hooked it around Ranma's waist as she flew on in pursuit of Tenchi.  
When she reached Tenchi he hardly noticed her grabbing hold. His  
attention was focused completely on the sky above them. Following  
his gaze, Ryouko was impressed despite herself. It wasn't often you  
saw a warp singularity inside a planetary atmosphere. Mostly  
because no one was stupid, or suicidal, enough to generate same.  
The nose, of what Ryouko recognized as a Galaxy Police  
shuttle, projected out of the swirling vortex. The craft was being  
drawn backwards, or rather, was being pushed by the air rushing by  
it. Even as Ryouko watched, it disappeared from sight.  
A loud, and no doubt vulgar, high-pitched jabbering  
announced the presence of the now diminished mist-monster as it  
went zipping by them. It too disappeared into the vortex.  
Tenchi suddenly started struggling in Ryouko's arms. Startled  
by his actions, she loosened her grip on him, and he pushed himself  
away from her. Following his trajectory, she saw the limp figure of  
a busty-blond. Tenchi reached her, and took her in his arms.  
Ryouko saw red. The nerve of him. Running after some other girl  
when he had her.  
At that moment, the force which had been holding them, and  
half the countryside, in the air, disappeared. Tenchi flailed madly as  
he, and the blond in his arms, began to fall. Ryouko, after making  
sure Tenchi was heading toward a reasonable deep pool of water,  
sniffed, and turned her back on him. "Come on, Red, let's go see if  
soaking his head made any improvement in Tenchi's manners,"  
Ryouko said.  
Receiving no response from the girl in her arms, Ryouko  
suddenly realized that Ranma had been unusually quiet through this  
whole thing. She looked down at the small red-haired girl hanging  
over her arm. The limp way Ranma was hanging sent a sudden  
shock of worry through her stomach. Flipping the girl over, she  
gasped at what she saw.  
Ranma's face and torso were blotched with large livid bruises,  
which covered a large proportion of her body. Her eyes were shut,  
but thin trickles of blood flowed out from under them and down her  
cheeks. This was not the only bleeding. Blood also flowed from her  
nose and ears. Worst of all, small red bubbles formed on her lips as  
she exhaled, indicating something was seriously wrong with her  
lungs.  
Ryouko's emotions peaked at total panic, and froze. Ryouko  
had been a warrior for five thousand years, only seven hundred of  
them spent sleeping. That left a very long lifetime of experience in  
witnessing serious physical trauma. She was a very different person  
now then she had been back then, but just now she needed the cold-  
hearted bitch she'd been in those long ago times.  
Ryouko examined Ranma's condition, reached a conclusion as  
to her survivability.  
  
None.  
  
Dismissed that conclusion as unacceptable, and looked for  
options.  
  
One chance existed. Time was of the essence if it had any  
chance at all of helping. Without hesitation, Ryouko dove, heading  
straight for the rocky ground that surrounded the hot spring. She hit,  
and phased herself and Ranma through the rock. Ryouko 'felt' for  
where she needed to be, and a second later flew out of a rock  
outcropping many miles away from the hot springs.  
  
***************************************  
  
Katsuhito was not shocked, or frightened, when Ryouko  
emerged from the rock outcropping high up on the side of the  
valley. Nor did the limp form she carried in her arms fill him with  
dread. He was past all that. For the last ten minutes he had known  
that something was very wrong.  
That did not mean he felt nothing as he watched Ryouko speed  
across the valley toward him. His soul was like ice as he prepared  
to once again cope with the pain of losing someone dear to him.  
Ryouko reached him and thrust her burden into his arms.  
Without a word she flashed back into the air and flew toward the  
lake. She didn't bother with phasing. Water exploded into the air as  
she dove at full speed into the quiet depths.  
Katsuhito saw none of this. His attention was fixed fully on the  
small girl cradled in his arms. A brief feeling of joy filled him,  
quickly quashed, as he saw she was still breathing. Her appearance  
left him with little hope that she'd survive for more then a few  
minutes.  
Like Ryouko, Katsuhito had seen war and battle, and was  
under no delusions as to what happened to people who got caught  
up in them. Ranma looked like she'd seen war. Her nude body was  
one massive bruise, her skin almost uniformly black. Blood ran  
from her nose, eyes, and ears.  
An explosion of water out in the lake wrenched his gaze away  
from Ranma. When he saw the article Ryouko was carrying he let  
hope warm his heart for the first time since he had seen that flare of  
energy in the distance. Ryouko flew straight toward the pair on the  
ground, the emergency medical pod she'd just recovered carried  
above her head.  
  
Designed for use in the event of catastrophic damage to the  
ship, they were constructed to survive anything that might leave  
survivors onboard the ship. Because they might end up floating in  
space for months, they possessed very advanced temporal stasis  
fields, with several added features. Because this particular pod was  
on a ship belonging to the first princess of Jurai, it was of the latest  
design. It was capable of stabilizing and treating very serious  
injuries, even those as serious as Ranma seemed to be suffering.  
There was no need for words. Katsuhito was already in motion  
before Ryouko landed. Cradling Ranma's limp body in one arm, he  
used the other to hit the hatch release on the pod. As Ryouko  
finished setting it on the ground, he lifted Ranma inside, and  
slammed the door shut.  
The process was automatic from that point on. A faint glow  
sprang up as the pod activated its stasis units, and for the person  
inside, time stopped.  
"Is she going to be alright," Ryouko asked anxiously.  
Katsuhito had crouched down on one knee to look at the main  
readout of the module. Something in Ryouko's voice made him  
look over at her. She was pale with strain. Katsuhito had no idea  
what had happened at the hot springs, but whatever it was,  
combined with her flight back to the valley with Ranma, had  
drained her. He also had a hunch there was more than that at work  
here.  
  
Katsuhito was quite aware of Ryouko's feelings toward  
Tenchi. He had also been an amused observer of the comedy of  
errors that had put Ryouko in Tenchi's bad books. Now was not a  
time for humor. The girl needed, and deserved, reassuring.  
  
He smiled gently at Ryouko, and said. "Tenchi will be very  
proud of you, Ryouko-san. You acted quickly and intelligently. If  
Ranma survives it will be due to your action. I will be sure to let  
Tenchi, and the others, know this.  
Some of the strain vanished from Ryouko's face, but not all.  
The glance she directed at the pod was still worried. "Is Red going  
to be ok?" she asked.  
Katsuhito beamed at her, and then turned back to the screen.  
"Well let us see, shall we?" he asked.  
Despite his light tone, Katsuhito was pretty sure what he was  
going to discover, and he was not at all happy about it. It was clear  
to him that Ranma had been responsible for the flair of energy he  
had witnessed. He was dreadfully afraid that Ranma had burned  
herself out. What he expected to see on screen would only confirm  
that.  
  
In the split-second between the time the lid of the pod had  
been closed, and the stasis field was activated, powerful sensors had  
scanned Ranma down to the molecular level. For the last two  
minutes the computer on board the medical pod had been  
deciphering that information. Now it displayed what it had  
discovered on the screen.  
  
For a minute Katsuhito couldn't understand what he was  
seeing. It made no sense at all. If Ranma had burned herself out,  
there should have been severe degradation of those sections of her  
brain and nervous system that channeled the power-of-Jurai. There  
was none of that. Indeed, the scans showed that Ranma's internal  
readings were completely normal with the exception of some  
damage to her lungs. Except for that, there was no evidence of any  
damage at all below the main dermal levels of her skin. It made no  
sense at all.  
Ignoring Ryouko's urgent inquires as to how Ranma was, he  
called up a more detailed analyze, forgetting that a simple Shinto  
priest shouldn't be able to manipulate alien technology several  
thousand years in advance of anything on earth. Fortunately Ryouko  
was too worried, or just didn't care, to take note of this fact.  
Katsuhito frowned as labored to make head or tails of the  
information presented to him. He was by no means a medical  
specialist, and the data he was perusing was complicated in the  
extreme. As near as he could make out, instead of burning out  
Ranma's ability to use it, the power she had called up had flushed  
some sort of foreign matter out of her system. It was the ejection of  
this material through the surface of her body that had caused the  
massive hematoma to Ranma's skin. But why would Ranma have  
had so much foreign matter in her cellular structure? Where had it  
come from?  
Katsuhito's eyes suddenly went wide with understanding.  
Ranma was not going to like this at all, he thought to himself. His  
fingers started flying over the keyboard, deleting certain  
information from the data base. No one else must find this out. Just  
as he was finishing, he was pulled away from the pod, and whirled  
around to face an angry Ryouko.  
Ryouko gave him a shake, and yelled in his face, "For the last  
time, old man. What's wrong with Ranma?"  
"Bad sunburn," Katsuhito said in a bland voice. He shifted his  
shoulders slightly, and moved a foot. Ryouko suddenly found her  
grip on the old man broken and her balance destroyed. She fell  
forward, only to be stopped when Katsuhito wrapped his arms  
around her. His hands found a pair of convenient handles, and  
pulled her back to her feet.  
Ryouko flushed as Katsuhito's hands flexed, and she pulled  
herself free of his grasp. She started to take a swing at him, and then  
suddenly stopped. "She's going to be alright," she asked in an  
incredulous tone.  
"I don't see why not."  
For a second a look of profound relief spread over Ryouko's  
face, but then an expression of anticipation replaced it. Ryouko  
reached over and thumped on the top of the medical pod. "You in  
there, Red?" she shouted. "Get well soon, cause you, me, and a rope  
have an appointment with the tallest tree in the valley.  
  
To be continued in chapter 11.  
I'm a girl for real!?  
  



End file.
